When you think of Punk Rock music you think tattoos, tough guys and loud noise. Do you think about transgender Rock Gods? Probably not. Tom Gabel, lead singer of Against Me! is about to challenge all of that. The 6’2″ front man from the band and happily married husband to Heather has just started his transition from male to female and in an interview with Rolling Stone has said that he’ll live as a woman for a full year before considering gender reassignment surgery.
I have to admit that my knowledge of transgenderism is pretty limited but I imagine the bravery it takes to tell your wife that you no longer want to be a man is pretty immense. The fantastic thing about Tom’s wife Heather is that she is standing by him the whole way. She’s admitted that she’s been surprised that she hasn’t felt angry and has decided to just roll with whatever happens.
Tom will be known as Laura Jane Grace, also not a very Punk Rock name. When I hear that name Laura Jane Grace I think of floral dresses and house keeping not, as Tom puts it “imagine me, six-foot-two, in heels, f—ing screaming into someone’s face.”
