Laura Jane Grace Transgender activist/ Laura Jane Grace’s Trans Punk Rebellion

Laura Jane Grace: 'It's Not A Sex Thing, It's a Gender Thing' | Larry King Now - Ora.TV

TRUE TRANS with Laura Jane Grace FULL SERIES

"For example, Florida-based punk band Against Me! has for its vocalist and guitarist, Laura Jane Grace, who came out a transgender in 2012 to begin her transition towards living as a woman. After five albums, the band released their last album “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” in January this year, where Laura first sang as a woman. Those who listen to punk would surely agree that Against Me! is no less a punk band than others, and no less punk even with Laura coming out. - See more at: http://www.mmail.com.my/opinion/zurairi-ar/article/are-there-no-gay-punk-rockers#sthash.gSYFH3UD.dpuf "

Are there no gay punk rockers?
http://www.mmail.com.my/opinion/zurairi-ar/article/are-there-no-gay-punk-rockers

"Artist: LAURA JANE GRACE (with Against Me!)

Track: "FUCKMYLIFE666"

Album: Transgender Dysphoria Blues (2013)

Factoid: Laura Jane Grace made a stir in the music world when she came out as a trans woman to Rolling Stone in 2012. Since then, she and Against Me!, the popular punk band she's fronted since age 17, have released Transgender Dysphoria Blues — an album The Advocate called "brutally honest ... in addressing trans themes" — and Grace has released a documentary series for AOL Originals titled True Trans With Laura Jane Grace.

Author's Note: The song below is full of images that many trans women will recognize. While some may criticize its presence here due to the themes of clothing and makeup, we feel that, coming from a trans artist, these images have a much different intent and power than when a nontrans artist appropriates them as media tropes about our lives."
http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/music/2014/12/11/37-alternative-trans-anthems-trans-musicians

from the article:

37 Alternative 'Trans Anthems' by Trans Musicians

Looking for a 'trans anthem' for your playlist? Listen to 37 sensational songs written and performed by some seriously talented trans and gender-variant musicians.
http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/music/2014/12/11/37-alternative-trans-anthems-trans-musicians

"women are reconceiving rock for a new century -- from Lorde and Del Rey to St. Vincent, Jenny Lewis and more, not to mention Against Me’s trans frontwoman, Laura Jane Grace. "
http://www.billboard.com/articles/events/year-in-music-2014/6406311/2014-pop-end-of-men-moment-female-artists-ruling-charts

"Laura Jane Grace Fights For Trans Narratives

Laura Jane Grace wasn’t too comfortable with Arcade Fire’s “We Exist” video, in which Andrew Garfield plays a character who appears to be a transgender woman, and she had no qualms with making her feelings known. “Maybe when making a video for a song called ‘We Exist’ you should get an actual “Trans” actor instead of Spider-Man?” the punk singer tweeted in May.

Grace, whose band, Against Me!, released Transgender Dysphoria Blues in January, has since reconsidered her views on the clip, but the exchange demonstrated the importance of letting trans individuals have a say in how their stories are represented in the media. "
http://www.mtv.com/news/2025013/lgbt-best-moments-2014/


21 Major LGBT Moments In Music This Year, And Why They Mattered In 2014 More Than Ever

Sam Smith comes out, Laura Jane Grace speaks out and so much more.
http://www.mtv.com/news/2025013/lgbt-best-moments-2014/

2014 Winners: Laura Jane Grace & Against Me!

December 8, 2014 9:00 AM
http://radio.com/2014/12/08/2014-winners-laura-jane-grace-against-me/

"By Shannon Carlin

Radio.com Winners feature five artists in 2014 who are pushing music forward and not looking back. Today, we want to talk about Laura Jane Grace and Against Me!

Gender, male and female, has never been a binary system, but in 2014 this un-radical notion is finally becoming part of the larger conversation. Gender is a construct, much more about identity than genitalia. It’s certainly not predestined. Sometimes life doesn’t get it quite right the first time and you have to correct things on your own.

Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace did just that. In 2012, at 31 years old, she came out as transgender and became music’s true trans folk hero."


Read the rest here http://radio.com/2014/12/08/2014-winners-laura-jane-grace-against-me/

Rocker Laura Jane Grace Opens Up About Her Transgender Journey
http://www.elle.com/news/culture/laura-jane-grace-interview-against-me

Laura Jane Grace Reviews 2014: The Against Me! Leader On Transitioning In Public, Getting To Know Her Fans, And Seeing A Ghost

Dec 17th '14 by T. Cole Rachel @ 10:44am
http://www.stereogum.com/1725103/laura-jane-grace-reviews-2014-the-against-me-leader-on-transitioning-in-public-getting-to-know-her-fans-and-seeing-a-ghost/franchises/interview/

"9. Against Me!: Transgender Dysphoria Blues

Instead of some grand statement, the volatile sixth album from tuneful Florida punks Against Me! — the band’s first since singer Tom Gabel became Laura Jane Grace — turns the focus inward, with the frontwoman leading the band through a tumultuous 29-minute set that builds from confusion and self-loathing to tracks exhibiting a hard-won resolve."
http://www.columbusalive.com/content/stories/2014/12/18/year-in-review-top-20-albums.html

Year-In-Review: The top 20 albums of 2014
http://www.columbusalive.com/content/stories/2014/12/18/year-in-review-top-20-albums.html

"9. Against Me!’s Transgender Dysphoria Blues (Total Treble) Laura Jane Grace’s concept album about transitioning from one sex to another is equal parts defiant and heart-wrenching, breeding punk bombast with some of the year’s finest rock ‘n’ roll hooks. — Kyle Petersen - See more at: http://www.free-times.com/music/best-of-the-rest-122314#sthash.cZEdRlCi.dpuf"


Music + Nightlife Best of the Rest Our 10 Favorite Records From the Rest of the World By Free TimesTuesday, December 23, 2014 - See more at: http://www.free-times.com/music/best-of-the-rest-122314#sthash.cZEdRlCi.dpuf
http://www.free-times.com/music/best-of-the-rest-122314

"Against Me!, Transgender Dysphoria Blues

I saw Against Me! Play twice this year, once in front of about 75,000 at a festival in Montreal and other time, in front of a more intimate 3,000 people in Toronto. Each performance, one for shirtless 19-year-old dudes with back tattoos in Montreal, the other for aging bros who seemingly only tossed their Ed Hardy shirts in recent memory, struck me as remarkably brave. (Note: This is what happens when you are opening.) Brave is not an adjective often used in the context of modern pop music but when Laura Jane Grace came out as transgender in 2012 it really wasn’t truly clear how the veteran punk act — or the band’s fans — would react. Whatever the expectations were, Transgender Dysphoria Blues surpassed them with the group’s most accessible — and personal — album to date. Grace has always been a tremendous songwriter, creating memorable three-minute character sketches over power-pop punk, but she finds new depths in telling the most personal story of her life. (That said, Transgender Dysphoria Blues is written as a concept album about a transgendered prostitute.) “You want them to notice the ragged ends of your summer dress/ You want them to see you like they see every other girl/They just see a faggot/ They hold their breath not to catch the sick,” Grace sings on the title track, in one the most heart-wrenching lyrics in recent memory. That said, just like the protagonist in Against Me!’s 2007 break out hit, “Thrash Unreal,” Transgender Dysphoria Blues doesn’t wallow. Over its 28-minute running time, the hooks are loud and proud and meant for fist-pumping. Grace doesn’t want sympathy, she wants anthems. “No more troubled sleep/There’s a brave new world/That’s raging inside of me,” she sings on “F–kmylife666.” Grace owns her identity and a metaphorical middle finger has been raised. Transgender Dysphoria Blues feels like a genuinely important rock n’roll album and I don’t remember the last time the genre had an album anywhere near that conversation. Key tracks: “Transgender Dysphoria Blues,” “True Trans Soul Rebel,” “F–kmylife666,” “Black Me Out” Josh Visser"
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/12/22/the-best-albums-of-2014-from-alvvays-to-st-vincent-here-are-our-favourite-releases-from-the-past-year/




Music


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The best albums of 2014: From Alvvays to St. Vincent, here are our favourite releases from the past year

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David Berry, Sarah Boesveld, Jon Dekel, Barry Hertz, Jason Rehel, Rebecca Tucker, Josh Visser and Noah Love | December 22, 2014 | Last Updated: Dec 23 11:19 AM ET
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/12/22/the-best-albums-of-2014-from-alvvays-to-st-vincent-here-are-our-favourite-releases-from-the-past-year/

Merry Christmas, Amber

Various Artists wrote:

Merry Christmas, Amber

Merry Christmas to you too. Thank you Various Artists Even though I don't celebrate Christmas.

May the Goddess Athena Bless you always!

August 20 2014 5:00 AM ET

Laura Jane Grace Doesn't Apologize for Being Herself

Parker Marie Molloy

The Entertainers: Band front woman Laura Jane Grace is delivering on her promise not to become a demure shrinking violet after coming out as trans.
http://www.advocate.com/40-under-40-emerging-voices/2014/08/20/40-under-40-laura-jane-grace-doesnt-apologize-being-herself

Laura Jane Grace, 33
Naples, Fla.
@LauraJaneGrace

Against Me! front woman Laura Jane Grace came out as transgender in a May 2012 interview with Rolling Stone. The interview shed light on the singer’s identity and instantly became one of the more humanizing recent representations of trans people and the unique circumstances they struggle with, all while breaking down widely held misconceptions about what it means to be transgender.

“I'm not going to be this ultrafeminine girl with pink nails and a pretty pink dress,” Grace told Rolling Stone. “I'm going to be fucking fierce."

True to her word, Grace frequently takes the stage in all black, with her wild, wavy hair hanging down over her face and an attitude that screams, I can kick your ass and drink you under the table. The band’s live show is an aggressive, adrenaline-pumping exercise in not giving a fuck. An “ultrafeminine girl with pink nails and a pretty pink dress” Grace is not.

In January the band released Transgender Dysphoria Blues, an album of overt, gender-centric themes, featuring songs with titles like “True Trans Soul Rebel,” “FUCKMYLIFE666,” “Drinking With the Jocks,” and “Osama Bin Laden as the Crucified Christ.” The album, released on the band’s own Total Treble record label, debuted at number 23 on the Billboard 200, marking the band's most successful launch (2010's White Crosses debuted and peaked at number 34).

Grace has long had a reputation for producing powerful, meaningful lyrics, but it wasn't until the release of Transgender Dysphoria Blues that she was able to address issues of gender identity so candidly. The album's lyrics are filled with the sort of angst fans have come to expect from Grace, only this time focusing on some of the struggles unique to those whose true gender clashes with their birth-assigned sex.

"Spread out face down on those stained, cheap hotel sheets / she spent the last years of her life running from the boy she used to be / cut her face wide open, shaved the bone down, then pumped her lips up exaggerated, a fucked-up kind of feminine," Grace sings on the heart-wrenching "Paralytic States." Later in the song, she sings, "Standing naked in front of that hotel bathroom mirror, in her dysphoria's reflection, she still saw her mother's son," and laments that the song's subject is "never quite the woman that she wanted to be."

These issues — self and social perception, a feeling of futility while struggling to finally find comfort with one's self — are relatable on a level above and beyond gender identity, though in this case, they're clearly in referencing it. This level of accessibility makes Transgender Dysphoria Blues arguably one of the most essential works of music to take on the topic of gender identity.

In April, AOL announced that Grace would be getting her own show, titled So Much More With Laura Jane Grace. The show, announced during AOL's NewFronts presentation, is a documentary series, following the singer on tour, and will feature discussions between Grace and other trans and gender-variant individuals.

Because of her powerful lyrics and unapologetic attitude, many credit Grace with saving their lives, for giving them the courage to embrace who they are, and to not feel the need to follow any single narrative of what it means to be trans. In interviews immediately following her coming-out, Grace talked about the lack of well-known trans people and how that affected her as a child. Thanks to Grace and others like her kids have an ever-growing list of trans figures they can look to for inspiration.
http://www.advocate.com/40-under-40-emerging-voices/2014/08/20/40-under-40-laura-jane-grace-doesnt-apologize-being-herself

The Albums That Defined 2014: Against Me!’s Transgender Dysphoria Blues ignites a conversation we should already be having

By singing about her experiences as a transgender woman, Laura Jane Grace brought Against Me! to an even wider audience.

Chartattack squiggle
Joshua Kloke - Dec 29, 2014

The Albums That Defined 2014 explores how this year's most influential records have shaped and reflected the wider music landscape. Today, how Against Me!'s incredible Transgender Dysphoria Blues made music writers stare their biases in the mirror.


Less than a year after Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! came out as transgender, I arranged an interview with her in advance of the band's January 2013 appearance at Australia’s gigantic travelling festival Big Day Out. When we finally connected after a few delayed calls, there was noticeable hesitation and wariness in Grace’s voice. Given that the band’s now career-defining record Transgender Dysphoria Blues had yet to be released, I asked Grace about what I believed to be clues on her gender dysphoria in past releases, most notably their 2010 release White Crosses. My theories about the band and their future with a transgender singer at the helm were repeatedly shot down by Grace.

When Transgender Dysphoria Blues was released in January of this year, it began a tidal wave of art and conversation rooted in transgender identity and issues that finally started to infiltrate the "mainstream" conversation. For many Against Me! fans and straight male rock writers like myself, it was a chance to stare ignorance in the mirror, at a time when such intervention is sorely necessary (and, truthfully, always has been).



Being told to “write what you know” can be both a blessing and a curse. For Grace and other such as Rae Spoon and Ivan E. Coyote this can lead to empowering and truly mind-expanding works of art that bring shade and perspective to a usually one-dimensional conversation. But when the mainstream music conversation is largely controlled by a homogeneous group of gatekeepers who are ignorant of their own privilege and don't make much effort to check it, that conversation can easily become aggressive or oppressive without them realizing it.

Transgender Dysphoria Blues is not an attempt to "educate" anyone. Laura Jane Grace is just writing from her own experiences. And it just so happens to be some of the most propulsive punk the band has ever released. Grace has never shied away from aspirations to have the band’s music reach a larger audience. That may have pissed off more than a few protective fans when they first started to speak beyond their often insular punk scene, but it's becoming clear they may have misinterpreted that desire. Against Me! have always had populist ambitions, and now those ambitions are just reaching in new, and in some ways, wider places. After all, who can't identify with the feeling of being uncomfortable in roles defined by others?

There was likely no agenda for Grace beyond writing what was important to her. Inevitably though, Transgender Dysphoria Blues has found powerful resonance. And for some listeners and journalists, it's given them a point of reference for conversations they should already be having.

Transgender Dysphoria Blues brims with unfiltered possibly: the voice of Laura Jane Grace singing louder than ever before.
http://www.chartattack.com/staff-picks/2014/12/29/albums-defined-2014-against-me-transgender-dysphoria-blues/

The Against Me! frontwoman reflects on her monumental 2014 and her plans for the future, including a book, a new album and a live album

Laura Jane Grace of Against Me!: ‘I Didn’t Know If the Band Was Going to Stay Together’
http://time.com/3653490/laura-jane-grace-against-me-interview/