Against Me! singer to change gender even though America can’t handle the idea of gay marriage
WHILE half of America shouts loudly about how much it hates the gays, it is with unimaginable bravery that Against Me! singer, Tom Gabel, announces that after years of living with gender dysphoria for years, he is to become she and start living life as Laura Jane Grace.
Gender dysphoria is not a laughing matter (despite the hooting that surrounded Lady GaGa’s non-penis) and changing your sex is surely one of the most difficult decisions a human can make. Yet, you can almost hear the catcalls from those who are steadfast in their unwillingness to understand the situation.
Over the next few years, the Against Me! singer will begin hormone treatment to begin the process of changing gender. The clues were in Gabel’s work already, singing: “If I could have chosen, I would have been born a woman/ My mother once told me she would have named me Laura/ I’d grow up to be strong and beautiful like her.”
And while this decision has got nothing to do with anyone but Gabel and family, there’ll be cries of ‘abomination’ and ‘freak’, because obviously, what someone else does with their body is everyone else’s business. Of course, there’ll be suspicions too that this decision will be based on sexual deviancy or somesuch. However, Gabel stressed to Rolling Stone magazine that this isn’t the case and that, in fact, she’ll be staying married to wife, Heather.
“For me, the most terrifying thing about this was how she would accept the news,” the singer said. “But she’s been super-amazing and understanding. 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.”
Anyone in their right mind would only offer support, but we’ve got a mixed history concerning transgender celebrities. The British public embraced Nadia Almada when she entered the Big Brother house, but the Lauren Harries is treated like some penny-peep show. Chaz Bono has been roundly mocked in America for having the temerity to be a transgender woman in the public eye.
For many, Laura Jane Grace will be a curious footnote in rock’s back pages, but more pertinently, she might become a poster girl and kick some doors in toward acceptance. We live in hope.
Posted: 10th, May 2012 | In: Celebrities Comments (4) | TrackBack | Permalink
