Against Me!

Blunt response: He was my hero before, nothings fucking changed.

fullcollapse wrote:

Klown wrote:

Said it before, and will say it again, fair play to him for this. If it encourages more people who feel like this, to be honest with others, and I guess themselves, then it can only be a good thing.

And this is why I know this is so, so huge.

Like. I don't have the right to go into detail about something that doesn't directly involve my own body, but I wish I could because this is such a fantastic time to do it. I can just say that in my life there have been so many questions about how one can continue to exist within the punk scene as a person who is about to transition, is transitioning, or has transitioned. I mean, overall it's an extremely open and welcoming scene, but this is a huge and often little known about concept.

I've already seen so many phrases all over the internet that have enraged me but I cannot fault people for simply not knowing. I mean, she was never a man; she never considered herself a man, always a woman who was born with a body that is not congruent with her identity. She's not having a "sex change;" first comes hormone therapy that triggers many physical changes, and then later on, some trans people choose to undergo "sexual reassignment surgery" which is surgery to reassign the sexual organs from birth to sexual organs that match the person's identity.

It's a very sensitive topic with specific wording and some people explode at others for "getting it wrong" but seriously, as long as people aren't being blatant asses, people can't be faulted for not knowing the details; after all, how many people either are trans or are close enough to someone who is that they'd want or need to know all this?

I'd be happy to talk about this forever. It's a topic that is so ~close to my heart~ and I'm still in shock over this news, because I never expected anyone to have this kind of courage. I'm so excited for her and it's just so damn admirable I can't even contain myself.

Well said, fullcollapse. Well said.

great for tom and great for her wife, it shows that love is more than if somebody is a man and the other woman.

http://thegaslightanthem.tumblr.com/post/22701565273/so-toms-gonna-be-laura-now-and-in-2012-i-still

Brian (or Gossip Girl) wrote up something about this. It's a good read.

I'm really, really glad that my little corner of the internet has been nothing but wonderful tonight. I'm too happy to have to just ruin it by going into a rage. And somehow, my initial post on tumblr has 242 notes... really, it was just me sobbing happily into my keyboard, so I'm glad to see that others agreed with it!

fullcollapse wrote:

I'm really, really glad that my little corner of the internet has been nothing but wonderful tonight. I'm too happy to have to just ruin it by going into a rage. And somehow, my initial post on tumblr has 242 notes... really, it was just me sobbing happily into my keyboard, so I'm glad to see that others agreed with it!

I was a little surprised to see Brian say that because I've read nothing but good things in my neck of the internet woods. Though obviously I'm scared for Tom/Laura that there's also gonna be a bunch of dirtbags that will have some really terrible things to say about all of it, but fuck those losers.

I was also surprised that even Brian wondered on some level if it was a joke. Does Tommy have some really weird personality that people thought he was capable of joking about this?

NeverTrustAJunkie wrote:

I was a little surprised to see Brian say that because I've read nothing but good things in my neck of the internet woods. I was also surprised that even he wondered on some level if it was a joke. Does Tommy have some really weird personality that people thought he was capable of joking about this?

I didn't think it was a joke on the band's part, but I'm so used to this subject being thrown around and shat upon that I first checked to make sure I was at the REAL Rolling Stone website, then I read the article to make sure there was no Onion-esque writing, and by the time I was done reading it, it was on several other outlets. So at first I definitely thought it was someone's idea of a joke and I literally cried when I realized it was true... I tried reading it out loud to my husband, but I eventually had to say "I'm too happy, you read it."

yeah i feel like brian creates issues out of nothing sometimes, i haven't seen anything negative on the interwebs... oh well. at least he's trying to let his opinion be known.

DeathoftheCool wrote:

yeah i feel like brian creates issues out of nothing sometimes, i haven't seen anything negative on the interwebs... oh well. at least he's trying to let his opinion be known.

There are definitely negative opinions. I'm told punknews and the actual Rolling Stone page are a cesspool of horrific things right now. I looked at RS once, and I am staying very far away.

fullcollapse wrote:

DeathoftheCool wrote:

yeah i feel like brian creates issues out of nothing sometimes, i haven't seen anything negative on the interwebs... oh well. at least he's trying to let his opinion be known.

There are definitely negative opinions. I'm told punknews and the actual Rolling Stone page are a cesspool of horrific things right now. I looked at RS once, and I am staying very far away.

really? damn. well lets hope i continue to not see any

Yeah, same. For the most part, I loved what Brian wrote, but the part about it being a joke kinda made me go, "erm. okay." But I also understood it on some level -- in the age of the internet, there's so many hoaxes. I honestly wouldn't have believed it until I saw the actual article itself. It's incredibly sad to have that happen, but with the way technology moves, it's unnerving. I guess it can cause some people to be jaded and cynical and have a "I'll believe it when I see it" mentality. Maybe Brian was just being cautious and covering all the bases. I'm not saying that it's an excusable thing, but just throwing out some ideas as to why he said it.

That being said, I like Brian's sentiments about letting people live their lives (especially on a day when North Carolina does stupid shit), which is why I thought it was a good read. (I just want to clear that up, if anyone thought that my saying it's a good read implied that I was including the joke part is offensive. If it is offensive in any way, I do apologize because that was certainly not my intention.)

Actually your reasoning makes sense (about covering his bases rather than implying Gabel has a twisted sense of humor).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyMhx_8T0mE

"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"

I've always wondered if "The Ocean" was suggesting this, or if it was just a curiosity.

I am so insanely happy that she is taking this necessary step towards being a happier and better version of herself.
It warms my heart that Heather is supportive. Amazing!

I imagine that there will be bumps along the way, but she's lucky to have a support system extending outside of friends/family.

I truly empathize with anyone going through this, I imagine it would be so tormenting to be born into the wrong body.

I don't think I can add much to what has already been so eloquently put by redskynight or fullcolapse and everyone else that has had something kind to say about Laura. As a queer myself, I know what it's like to come out to friends and family, but I certainly have no idea what it's like to come out to the whole WORLD! There are certainly plenty of queer and transgender people in music – Antony Hegarty and Mina Caputo are the first that come to mind – but this is a bit different: the fact that Laura's transition will be so public is going to bring a different level of awareness, not only to the punk community that birthed AM!, but to the much larger audience that they've reached over the years. I'm ecstatic for her, but, I think what's putting me over the edge is reading everyone's responses and seeing just how accepting everyone is.

Quite simply, she's a hero.

DeathoftheCool wrote:

yeah i feel like brian creates issues out of nothing sometimes, i haven't seen anything negative on the interwebs... oh well. at least he's trying to let his opinion be known.

It all started out really positive...then the bigots of the world got back on the internet. I was confused at first then I went on Punknews and back onto Rolling Stone, and there was all the hate, everywhere, all over everything, it's a real mess.

Twitter is a lovefest thankk god and I really don't want to read ignorant comments on this.
I wish those idiots miserable lives! They are reallyt missing the point on what punk is.

I often think they're saying negative stuff to get attention. But of course some of them are stupid enough to believe what they're typing. :/

http://www.jbtvonline.com/interviews/against-me-identity-and-concept-albums

Going back and watching that was cool.

Absolutely stunning - but so inspiring. As others have said, you have to live your life and not let anyone tell you otherwise. I'm glad he's getting so much support from so many.

(And to bring it back to music: other than the hormones potentially changing the pitch of his voice, once Tom becomes Laura she'll still be the same brilliant singer and songwriter...)

Does anybody know where I could read the Rolling Stone article, other than buy the magazine of course?

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tom-gabel-of-against-me-comes-out-as-transgender-20120508

njguy99 wrote:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tom-gabel-of-against-me-comes-out-as-transgender-20120508

ahh so it isn't out yet? I will probably just buy it anyway.