Lead singer of Against Me! cheered at first performance since revealing she is trans
The lead singer of punk band Against Me! was greeted with cheers at her first stage appearance since announcing she is transgender.
Laura Jane Grace, formerly known as Tom Gabel, played a gig at San Diego and said she was relived by fans’ reactions.
She told Rolling Stone: “I was worried that some people expected me to come out looking like Little Bo Peep or something.”
Touring with The Cult, Against Me! played six new tracks including The Gender Dysphoria Blues. Rolling Stone said she made no mention of transition on-stage, the song would form the title track of an album currently in the works.
The line from the band’s 2007 track The Ocean, ‘If I could have chosen / I would have been born a woman’, elicited cheers and applause from the audience at last week’s performance.
Her wife, with whom she has a two-year-old daughter, remains committed to their marriage and has been supportive since Gabel told her she would begin transitioning.
She had told Rolling Stone: “For me, the most terrifying thing about this was how she would accept the news. But she’s been super-amazing and understanding.”
She added: “I’m going to have embarrassing moments 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.”
