Music

Against Me! singer Tom Gabel comes out as transgender, plans to start living as a woman

by Nicole Villeneuve

Photo from Rolling Stone, by Cass Bird

Against Me! singer/guitarist Tom Gabel has announced that she is transgender, and will soon begin hormone therapy and electrolysis treatments, eventually taking the name Laura Jane Grace.

The Florida punk icon, who says she has been dealing privately with gender dysphoria (identifying as a sex different than one’s biological sex) for years, broke the news to Rolling Stone (who published the story late last night), having told only a handful of family and friends beforehand. Rolling Stone currently has an excerpt of the upcoming full story, which will be featured in the May 11 print edition. Gabel will talk “her history of gender dysphoria, the specifics of the transition process and what becoming Laura Jane Grace will mean for the future of Against Me!.”

“I’m going to have embarrassing moments,” Gabel tells the magazine, “and that won’t be fun. But that’s part of what talking to you is about—is hoping people will understand, and hoping they’ll be fairly kind.”

Though this story is the sort that brings the worst out in comment threads, reaction to Gabel’s very public, very courageous announcement has been overwhelmingly supportive, from what we’ve seen. Gabel’s wife, Heather, has also been supportive, and the two will remain married. “For me, the most terrifying thing about this was how she would accept the news,” says Gabel. “But she’s been super-amazing and understanding.”

Fans have been poring back through old, always insightful and compassionate Against Me! lyrics, finding some more prescient than previously realized, while the new song “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” that Gabel has recently been performing solo takes on particular poignancy.

Gabel’s role in the oft-intolerant punk community has never been more important. We wish her all the best in this monumental change, and we’ll see y’all in line to buy that magazine on Friday. [via Rolling Stone]