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Against Me! Singer Makes Live Debut as Woman
Indie | Tuesday 29th May 2012 | Osh
Laura Jane Grace, formerly known as Tom Gabel, has played her first song with Against Me! as a woman.
The American punk band, formed in 1997, announced only a month ago that Gabel was struggling with gender dysphoria for a number of years, and planned to undergo hormone treatment to start living as a woman. Their upcoming album, Transgender Dysphoria Blues, will be a concept record about a transgender prostitute, and last Friday night Against Me! debuted a selection of those new songs.
The set was a support slot for The Cult, and the 40-minute performance saw the 31-year old sing lines such as, 'If I could have chosen/ I would have been born a woman', from their 2007 song 'The Ocean' - to which the crowd erupted in applause. Fans and fellow musicians have been remarkably supportive of Gabel's decision to become Laura, including The Gaslight Anthem, and organisation GLAAD (The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) have also showed its support by releasing this statment: 'Tom's deicision to live life authentically is not only a personal step forward, but one that will advance the national discussion about treating treansgender people with fairness'.
After the triumphant concert had finished, in which Grace appeared in a loose-fitting tank top and eye shadow, she told Rolling Stone, 'I was worried that some people expected me to come out looking like Little Bo Peep or something'. Grace is two weeks into hormone replacement therapy, and three days into a tour lasting through to August. '[I am] hoping people will understand,' she told Rolling Stone, 'and hoping they'll be fairly kind'.
