Music

Against Me!'s Laura Jane Grace burns birth certificate in North Carolina

by Jesse Locke

Back in April, Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! defiantly refused to cancel a North Carolina concert as “a form of protest” against the state’s anti-LGBTQ law House Bill 2.

If you’ve been living in blissful ignorance, House Bill 2 mandates that people must use public washrooms based on the sex marked on their birth certificates, not the gender by which they may or may not personally identify. When Against Me! hit the stage in Durham last night, Grace upped the ante with what may be the ultimate punk protest against the law: burning her birth certificate onstage.

This differs from the decisions of artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams to cancel their North Carolina dates altogether. Though that may be an effective statement made to the state’s lawmakers, Grace’s action is one of the most powerful symbols since Woody Guthrie’s guitar. Watch her say “goodbye, gender” in fan footage below:

[h/t Consequence of Sound]