Laura Jane Grace Will Play North Carolina As “An Act Of Protest”

Josh Brasted/Getty

Laura Jane Grace Will Play North Carolina As “An Act Of Protest”

Josh Brasted/Getty

Several high-profile performers including Bruce Springsteen and Ringo Starr have recently cancelled shows in North Carolina in protest of the state’s discriminatory HB2 legislation, which prohibits transgender people from using bathrooms that don’t match the gender on their birth certificates. Others, like Cyndi Lauper, Gregg Allman, and Jimmy Buffett, have expressed their disapproval of the bill but don’t plan to cancel their shows in North Carolina at the expense of their fans. And now Laura Jane Grace, the badass transgender woman who fronts the equally badass punk band Against Me!, has weighed in, saying that she won’t cancel their 5/15 show in North Carolina and will instead use it as “a form of protest.”

“I’m going to create an event around the show as a form of protest to say that despite whatever stupid laws they enact, trans people are not going to be scared. They are not going to go away,” Grace told BuzzFeed News in a new interview today. “I think the real danger with HB2 is that it creates a target on transgender people specifically. When you feel targeted as a trans person, the natural inclination is to go into hiding. But visibility is more important than ever; to go there and have the platform of a stage to stand on and speak your mind and represent yourself.” And although she commends non-transgender musicians like Bryan Adams and Bruce Springsteen for being allies and cancelling concerts, she says that “no one would care if we cancelled,” and she acknowledges that the people who live in North Carolina don’t have the option of boycotting the state: “They live here. They pay taxes. They are prisoners to it.”

Grace says that Against Me! have opened up their concert to LGBT organizations in the state to “table the event” and hand out information to audience members, and she also intends to encourage everyone at the show to use gender-neutral restrooms in the venue as an “act of protest.” “I will definitely be speaking about trans rights on stage,” she says. “This is all kind of happening in the moment. I’m doing what I can do and I’ll make the most of going to North Carolina.”

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