'School of Rock's Brian Falduto Releases Song for Queer Youth of Faith

Brian Falduto, the queer country music performer you might better know as "the gay kid from School of Rock," is performing his latest single, "God Loves Me Too" at Beloved Arise's Queer Youth of Faith Day streaming live on Tuesday, June 30. The song is the official anthem of faith-based LGBTQ+ youth group Beloved Arise.

"I waited my whole life for the truth that God loves me just the way that I am - and that I don't have to change myself or do anything to earn that love," Falduto tells Out. "This song is for that kid sitting in a church pew somewhere that hasn't been told that yet."

Beloved Arise's Queer Youth of Faith Day begins at 2:00 p.m. PDT on their website and YouTube channel. The livestreamed event will include live performances as well as LGBTQ+ folks and youth sharing their stories of faith. Focused on providing resources for Christian teens across denominations, Beloved Arise seeks to empower spiritual youth to understand it's possible to embrace both faith and their queer identity.

It's the type of message that Falduto wishes he had available to him when he was younger. He describes a period in his life following School of Rock where he came to doubt both himself and his faith. Despite becoming one of his generation's symbol of LGBTQ+ youth, Falduto had difficulty accepting his sexuality due in large part to a lack of gay role models in his life. His faith at the time provided him little solace. "God Loves Me Too" is Falduto's message to queer youth of faith that there is hope and acceptance.

"'God Loves Me Too' is powerful for me because I feel like it does a good job at encapsulating my life in a way," Falduto says. "It really paints the picture of those painful, dark days when I thought I wasn't lovable or worthy of love and then it celebrates where I am now, which is in a process of healing from that destructive mindset I grew up in, all within the confines of a storyline based in religion"

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