Tom Gabel, lead singer for punk powerhouse Against Me! reveals he’s been living as a woman and will begin the trans-gender process in the current issue of Rolling Stone.
Gabel tells RS that he’s battled with gender dysphoria for years and will begin taking hormones and undergoing electrolysis treatments to start the transformation. According the report, Gabel will change names to Laura Jane Grace, and stick with wife Heather.
The St. Augustine, Florida resident has treated this as a private ordeal until now.
I’m going to have embarrassing moments,” says Gabel, “and that won’t be fun. But that’s part of what talking to you [RS] is about – is hoping people will understand, and hoping they’ll be fairly kind.”
Looking back at lyrics from Gabel’s song “The Ocean,” it’s clear that he was ready to tell the story to his fans.
And 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
One day, I’d find an honest man to make my husband
We would have two children, build our home on the Gulf of Mexico
Our family would spend hot summer days at the beach together
The sun would kiss our skin as we played in the sand and water
And we would know we loved each other without having to say it
At night, we would sleep with the windows of our house left open
Letting the cool ocean air soothe the sunburned shoulders of our children
There is an ocean in my soul where the waters do not curve
There is an ocean in my soul where the waters do not curve
Against Me! is currently in studio recording their sixth studio album and will head out this month for U.S. and European tours with alt-rock legends, The Cult.
To better understand who this band is and what they stand for, watch their 2004 tour DVD titled Never Going Home.
Read more: Tom Gabel, Against Me!’s Frontman To Become A Frontwoman http://kroq.radio.com/2012/05/09/tom-ga ... z1uWKavtl3
The song in the video is actually pretty damn good. It's the kind of thing I would love to sell to misfit high school and college age kids if I was in the music industry...
Anyhow, I never really listened to Against Me! myself, but I'm pretty sure some of my punk rock friends are fans. Aside from getting me to finally check out the band (a couple songs like this one are really good, but most remind me of why I by and large disregard "punk" as an art form/movement) what really struck me was the debate going on in the comments section...
Fr3derick said: I loved and supported Tommy & AM! before this but after this news, i got even bigger LOVE & SUPPORT for Laura & AM! Takes a lot of guts and bravery to come forward, hopefully the public feels the same way as i do. Cant wait to see what the future holds for Laura, her family & especially Against Me!
to which Steve replied: Give me a break. This is discraceful. He is married. Thank god there are no children involved. That is the only good news here. What is happening to our society? Why does this kind of stuff need to be praised? Sick.
And Fern corrected Steve: There ARE children involved. The couple have a two year old daughter.
The comments go on...
Guillermo - It takes a lot of guts to do this, especially in the male-dominated world of punk rock… best of luck to Laura in her future endeavors
I got a chuckle out of Gary and porcorosso's contributions to the conversation:
Gary - What absolute bullshit! I think I’m a camel. Can I be a camel? Please? Regardless of what the progressive left may support, we are what we are and wanting to be something else is just a deviate pipe dream but a reality to the left.
And I will add this.
The progressive left feels that a human being with a penis and tescicles that identifies as a woman is a step forward but an oil pipleine from an allied country, an oil pipeline that will produce jobs and reduce our dependence on off-continent oil, is an affront to humanity.
Your time is past.
porcorosso - I wanna be an armadildo!
As is to be expected when Drudgelings cross paths with radical leftists online, we have the typical religious muck:
Christopher Pieretti - Takes a lot of guts?? It is insane! There are no guts involved at all. This is disgusting and evil.. The guy is out of his mind. He is only mutilating his body, he was born a man and will always be. This is what happens when man turns away from Christ, he has no clue as to the purpose of his life is nor who he even is. This is both sad, perverse and disgusting.
PalomaGenios - This is the visable manifestations of the written prophecies of the Last Days. These are souls so depraved by the work of Satan I shudder to think of their Eternal demise when the real wrath comes down. This is the continual in-roads of the LGBT demonically inspired de/re-programming of the youth culture that anything goes. God can save him, but he has to ask.
To which Dave felt compelled to respond - I don’t know about him, but I “turned away” (that is, I realized it was a complete fable) from your (made-up) god a long time ago and haven’t had the urge to become a woman. Nor did I become “evil”. I tell you what did happen though: I’m a lot happier than I used to be not carrying around all that baggage. You should do a little research on a Persian god called Mithra, actually read your bible with an objective eye and see what how much contradictory material is in there. I doubt if anything will convince you that what you believe just isn’t and can’t be true, using any kind of logic. And remember, how you “feel” about something is irrelevant as to whether or not it’s true.
There's a lot more there if you guys are interested. I think it's interesting to see this collision of personalities have at each other and it goes to show how unlikely reconciliation between the varied ideologies of Western peoples is. Frankly I don't really care if Tom Gabel wants to cut his penis off and change his name to Laura, but that's just me. I don't care about his fans, his wife, or his daughter either.. I just don't care....
But for those of you that do feel compassion for others, I think that David had the wisest take on the issue.
David - I wish him well, but embracing this delusion is the wrong way of handling it. Serious counseling would have been more appropriate. An old roommate of mine went through the same issues and pretty much did the same thing as Tom is doing. My friend is a good guy who has always struggled with sexual issues (including being married twice!). Many people in his circle were very mean to him. The solution is to the love the person, but that doesn’t mean you should embrace these issues. My friend also embraced these thoughts. It is the wrong way of handling it. I will pray that Tom finds peace. I fear he will not.
