Laura Jane Grace: 'So I'm a transsexual and this is what's happening'

The lead singer of Against Me! talks frankly about her gender dysphoria, and what it was like to tell her bandmates, her family and her wife that she wanted to become a woman

        Decca Aitkenhead   
        guardian.co.uk, Sunday 22 July 2012 15.30 EDT   

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jul/22/laura-jane-grace-transsexual?newsfeed=true

It's a real challenge for a punk rocker to generate anything resembling actual shock nowadays. Thirty-five years after the Sex Pistols sang God Save the Queen, what seemed transgressive now looks practically quaint. It's been almost as long since sex-change surgery could work up much interest either. Even the tabloids have wearied of "gender bender" headlines about butch army officers turning into foxy chicks.

But when Rolling Stone hit the newsstands two months ago, the magazine contained a genuine sensation. Tom Gabel, lead singer of American punk band Against Me!, had an important announcement to make – to his fans, his industry, his friends and to most of his family. After 10 years on stage, thrashing out a fury of sweaty nihilism, the punk would henceforth like to be known as Laura Jane Grace. The 31-year-old married father was about to embark on a process of gender reassignment, both hormonal and surgical, and for all practical purposes should be regarded from that day forth as a woman. When Against Me! performed the very next night, its ubiquitously pierced and tattooed lead singer strode on to the stage in high heels and full makeup.