Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace on Trump: ‘This Is An Administration That Doesn’t F—ing Care About Transgender People’
Against Me! frontwoman Laura Jane Grace has spoken out against the Trump administration’s new decision asking public schools to annul special protections for transgender students. “It's kind of predictable and seems so transparent that this is an administration that doesn't f—ing care about transgender people,” Grace recently told Rolling Stone.
This week, president Trump rescinded protection for transgender students that allowed them to use bathrooms which correspond with their gender identity, as per a “Dear Colleague” letter issued under the Obama administration. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was reportedly against Trump’s order, despite backing it publicly. "It was the President's decision," a source told CNN. "When the President tells you to do something you don't want to do, that is a hard spot to be in."
“The knee-jerk thought is ‘f—ing figures,’” Grace tells Rolling Stone. “It's f—ing stupid. It's unfortunately not surprising to me at all … There's something that's somehow more evil about an administration actively going out and trying to take away rights as opposed to the previous administrations before the Obama administration that just didn't do anything. There's just something that much more f—ed up about going out of your way to be like, "We're taking that protection away from you."
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump answered that he thought a decision on such transgender issues should be left up to the states rather than a federal stance being imposed.
“It's insane that it's a reality for transgender people, that it's my reality,” Grace says. “Most of the time, I will just wait to use the f—ing bathroom, and not do it in public. I feel so strongly about it being an issue for students because I remember there always being traumatic issues around restrooms in elementary school when I was growing up, and this is not even being out as a transgender person but just the experience of being a student and using a locker room or a bathroom and already feeling unprotected. You're creating that much more dangerous of an environment for transgender students.”
Laura Jane Grace has been an outspoken member of the transgender community, releasing the book Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout last year. Read the full interview with Laura Jane Grace at Rolling Stone. Against Me! will be opening for Green Day on their North American arena tour beginning March 1.
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