David Archuleta opens up about his mother’s support after he came out

While at the 2023 Project Angel Food's Lead with Love 4 fundraiser event on Saturday, David Archuleta spoke with PEOPLE about his mother, Lupe Marie Mayorga, and how she has been an unwavering source of support after he publicly came out as part of the LGBTQ+ community in 2021. 

Archuleta shared that although his mother was initially hesitant, she eventually made the decision to leave the Mormon Church and embrace and support his identity as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

"My mom had a hard time accepting my journey. At first, she said, 'DA, I love you, but I love God more. And marriage is between a man and a woman.' And I'm like, 'Mom, I understand.' Because that's what I believed up until a month before coming out.”

The Glorious singer continued, “And I said, 'Mom, I don't need you to accept everything about my journey immediately. I just want you to be willing to walk along with me in this journey to learn alongside me'. And she said, 'Okay, I can do that.' "

He added: "So it was really sweet to see her now at the point where she said, 'I don't want to leave my family just to follow God.' She's like, 'I can follow God and accept my son.'"

“My mom said, 'I'm going to step away from the church.' And I was like, 'What?' And she just said, 'If you're going to hell, we're all going to hell together,' " he said. "... She just kind of said it in a funny way.”