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Laura Jane Grace Shares Essay On Against Me! Protest Show

Despite many performers such as Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr and Pearl Jam choosing to withdraw from their shows in North Carolina due to the state’s discriminatory anti-trans bathroom legislation, Laura Jane Grace, trans frontwoman of Against Me!, has decided the band should instead use their show to play in protest.

Speaking to The Washington Post, Grace explained how Bruce Springsteen’s cancelled show differs from their protest, “Bruce Springsteen pulling out of a concert has a noticeable financial effect. That’s lost revenue for the city. No one will notice that much if I cancel the show; it only hurts the fans and the people who have already bought tickets and the people who could possibly be educated in a situation like that.”

Burning her birth certificate onstage and saying “goodbye gender”, it was certainly clear that this is an issue not to be taken lightly, and to delve in to the topic deeper, Laura has today published a piece on Vulture which further explains the North Carolina show.

Beginning by explaining the importance of performing for North Carolina fans, she says:

“I didn’t even think twice about performing in North Carolina two weeks ago, on Sunday, May 15th, in Durham. I’m not a resident of North Carolina, but I do work in the state — my band has played there at least once or twice a year for almost the past 20 years, and I pay taxes in the state. If you’re a trans person living in North Carolina, it’s not like you have the option to be like, You know what? I’m gonna boycott my state — I’m not going to work today. I’m not gonna shop at the store. So my solution was never gonna be I’m just not gonna play in North Carolina. That’s ridiculous. I love North Carolina. It’s a beautiful state.”

Grace opened up about often thinking of the worst case scenario but hoping for the best:

“At times, my mind was even jumping to the fear of, ‘What if a crazy comes to the show and tries to kill me’?” Those thoughts were real to me, and really, really terrifying. I was just hoping that everyone would be safe and nothing would happen because of the show.”

She went on to describe how it felt to perform for the audience and the impact that the audience had on her after the show:

“After the show I made a point of making myself available and hanging out, talking with people. Someone had printed the bathroom bill on toilet paper rolls and put them at the venue, though they changed the wording to what it really is: “Part 1: Mandatory hate in our schools. Subsection 1: hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. 1.1: Hate, hate. 1.2: Hate…” I met the person who had the toilet paper printed up and we took a picture together. At that show in particular, there were a lot of younger kids — really young kids who are struggling with gender identity and struggling with that kind of discrimination. When I came out, I had no community. I didn’t know any trans people. So back then, to go on tour and immediately have people who would wait around after shows to say hey, to say they were there if I needed a friend — that meant the world to me.”

It’s amazing that despite a torrent of negative feedback regarding these discriminatory laws that nothing has yet happened to change them, but with positive and uplifting messages like this from Laura Jane Grace it is one step further in the right direction.

Read Laura Grace Jane’s full piece here.

Image:Konstantin Sergeyev