Laura Jane Grace has become one of the most visible faces of the transgender community since she came out in 2012. Last night, the Against Me! singer told her story to perhaps her biggest audience ever when she appeared on The Daily Show.
Articulate and thoughtful as ever, Grace gave host Trevor Noah what is surely one of his best interviews ever. Even in discussing her band’s transition from independent to major label signees, Grace made fair and reasoned points. She said she understands why a band coming from an anti-capitalist punk scene might “become suspect” once they start making money. However, she noted, “When you’re coming from a scene that teaches you to think for yourself, and then you think for yourself, you’re like, ‘Hey, but I’m taking everything that I learned from you and I’m applying it now.'”
The conversation then turned to her recent memoir, Tranny: Confessions Of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout. In just under six minutes, she managed to touch upon the complication of the word “tranny” within the trans community, how she came to accept her gender identity, and how to deal with pronoun confusion. When Noah asked Grace how her family dealt with her transition, she told him, “When it comes down to my daughter and I, it’s not that big of a deal. For her, there is no conflict of saying ‘dad’ but also saying ‘she’ and ‘her’ … But for kids, I feel like all they want to know is that you love them, that you’re gonna be there.”
Watch the entire interview above. Tranny is out now, as is Against Me!’s latest album, Shape Shift With Me.
