Tom Gabel

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.