Against Me!'s Tom Gabel is transgender and plans to live as a woman

Tom Gabel, the singer of Florida punk band Against Me! , has announced that she is transgender, and plans to begin living as a woman under the name Laura Jane Grace. Gabel, 31, who has been dealing with gender dysphoria for many years, will soon begin hormone and electrolysis treatment to start the process of changing gender. There had been clues in Gabel's work to her true identity. On the 2007 song The Ocean , she sang: "If I could have chosen, I would have been born a woman/ My mother once told me she would have named me Laura/ I'd grow up to be strong and beautiful like her." Gabel stressed to Rolling Stone magazine that she was not attracted to men, and intended to remain married to her wife, Heather. "For me, the most terrifying thing about this was how she would accept the news," the singer said. "But she's been super-amazing and understanding." "I'm going to have embarrassing moments and that won't be fun. But that's part of what talking to you is about – is hoping people will understand, and hoping they'll be fairly kind," Gabel said. Against Me!'s fans were supportive, though confused. "Has this been completely ruled out as being some kind of joke? I don't know what's going on. I don't know what to say," wrote one fan on the band's messageboard . "I am so so so proud of her. As soon as I read the article I ran downstairs and told my transgender sibling to Google the article, and then we hugged and yelled (because this is so fantastic and yaaay)," said another. "It's so important that everybody, I mean everybody here who cares about her to be unwavering in our support and not let anyone get away with any bullshit."