Laura Jane Grace is an American musician best known as the founder, lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of the punk rock band Against Me!.
Grace was born in Fort Benning, Georgia in 1980. Her family moved frequently between military bases and lived briefly in Fort Hood, Texas; Pennsylvania; Ohio; Germany; and at a NATO post in Italy during the Gulf War. At an early age, Grace experienced gender dysphoria. At 5 she saw Madonna performing in concert on TV and felt that that was who she’d be like when she grew up. She began nosing around in her mother’s closet and when in middle school, graduated to shoplifting girls’ clothes. Wearing clothes that corresponded to the gender she knew she was calmed her and made her feel like the person she was meant to be.
At the age of 8 Grace discovered her love of music, in high school she discovered punk bands like Sex Pistols and The Clash. The punk attitude of fighting back instead of taking it inspired her and helped her through the fact that she was beaten up at school. At 13 Grace discovered Renée Richards, she was a tennis pro in the ‘70s who was identified male at birth and the information gave Grace relief that she’d found someone like her. She still struggled with her gender dysphoria and the same year she began experimenting with alcohol and drugs including marijuana, LSD, and cocaine – she was arrested for possession of marijuana at 14. Her arrest changed her and began her distrust of authority and belief that the government base their power on violence. She discovered the British punk band ‘Crass’ and identified with the politics behind their music. Her first tattoo was the Crass logo.
In 1997 at the age of 17 Grace left high school early and began writing songs under the name of Against Me!. A year later she moved to Gainesville, Florida and began performing either alone with an acoustic guitar or accompanied by her friend Kevin Mahon. Her music was political and influenced by acoustic protest music. Grace worked a variety of jobs to support herself and volunteered with nonprofit socialist groups such as Food Not Bombs. Against Me! slowly evolved into a full band and in 2002 their debut album, Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose was released, the year after the band signed to
Fat Wreck Chords and released two more albums. The second, Searching for a Former Clarity sold sold over 65,000 copies and was their first album to chart on the Billboard 200. Against Me! became more and more popular and Grace found it difficult to deal with the male-centric punk scene. She used drugs and alcohol to try in an attempt to subdue her feelings.
Against Me! continued to build on their success and in 2005 signed to Sire Records, a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. As her band were now far more popular Grace decided to distance herself from wearing clothes that are identifiably female. In 2007 she married artist Heather Hannoura and Grace decided to commit to living as a man. Her love for Hannoura eclipsed her feelings of gender dysphoria but they were still there. In the song “The Ocean” on her band’s next album, New Wave, 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 would grow up to be strong and beautiful like her.” In 2009 Grace and Hannoura had a daughter, Evelyn and it brought back Grace’s gender dysphoria to the point that she began taking trips alone so that she could dress in stereotypically female clothing. She also began writing a concept album titled Transgender Dysphoria Blues.
In 2012 Grace publicly announced her intention to transition to living as a woman after being inspired by a transgender Against Me! fan. She changed her name to ‘Laura Jane Grace’. Grace received support from a number of punk musicians, including Joan Jett, Brian Fallon and Franz Nicolay. Herndon Graddick, President of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, hoped that Grace’s public profile would increase public awareness and acceptance of transgender people. After the shows Grace’s performed with Against Me! after she began to wear female clothing onstage, fans were coming up to her to offer their support and she met many trans men and women who said that she was an inspiration to them. She felt the same about them, and was able to discuss transition with them and share experiences.
Grace stated that as she never had a role model to show her that it is possible to be trans and happy she hopes that she can be that person for anyone who is struggling. In 2014 Against Me! released Transgender Dysphoria Blues. She was included in The Advocate’s annual “40 under 40” list that same year.