Against Me!

Credit: MTV

Laura Jane Grace, Formerly Tom Gabel, Feels Empowered as a Woman

Originally posted 06/19/2012 02:30PM

A month after Rolling Stone published its interview with Against Me!'s Tom Gabel announcing he will undergo treatments to become a woman, the punk rocker couldn't be happier.

"My life improves every single day," Gabel, 31, who now goes by Laura Jane Grace, tells MTV News in her first interview as a woman. "It feels like I'm in control of my life, and I'm in control of my person, and that's empowering. Saying to someone, 'I'm a transsexual' is the most empowering thing I've ever felt in my whole life."

Currently undergoing hormone treatments to complete the process of becoming a woman, Grace admits that holding back her secret all this time caused her to act inappropriately to the people she considers closest.

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Filed Under: Against Me!, Tom Gabel

Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty

Tom Gabel of Against Me! Comes Out as Transgender

Originally posted 05/09/2012 09:25AM

Tom Gabel, singer in the Florida punk band Against Me!, has come out as transgender and announced plans to begin living as a woman and take a new name.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Gabel, 31, acknowledges having dealt with "gender dysphoria for years." The singer will begin taking hormones and undergoing electrolysis treatment as part of the transitioning process.

"I'm going to have embarrassing moments, and that won't be fun," Gabel tells the magazine. "But that's part of what talking to you is about – hoping people will understand, and hoping they'll be fairly kind."