Dysphoria and Anarchy: Against Me! in Denver

“I’ve always thought music was about taking all the sadness, pain, fear, and trouble that you have weighing on you and turning it into something empowering, celebratory, and life-affirming.” – Laura Jane Grace, Against Me!

Inside Denver’s Summit Music Hall on October 9, a sweaty buzz of excited punk rock misfits funneled in for two back-to-back nights of anarchist delight. Against Me! stopped in Denver during their tour to honor the ten-year anniversary of two of the albums from their impressive catalog: New Wave and The Original Cowboy.

The punk-revival rock band, led by frontwoman Laura Jane Grace, has recently experienced several years of transition, evolution, and growth, not only in the band’s music and career, but also personal, internal, and external changes.

After a life of grappling with gender dysphoria, in 2012 Grace announced that she was trans and would begin hormone therapy and living her life as the woman she knew she was meant to be. Grace knew the decision may cost her a lot, but little did she know though how harsh the storms would be that she weathered.

Grace experienced loss to a devastating degree, fans turned away and the band was dropped by their record label. The dissolution of relationships with bandmates, family members, and the eventual end of a marriage sent her down a dark and scary path. Panic attacks, adverse reactions to hormones and an eventual brush with suicide, Grace was able to use her music as a continual stream of expression and catharsis.

After years of ups and downs, Grace is now an advocate for trans rights, released the docu-series on gender dysphoria and the lives of transgender people called True Trans, and has written a book titled Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout. The band calls on the community to show up, as tables for the Gender Identity Center and Denver’s GLBT Center were set up inside the venue with advocates ready and able to take questions and give advice.

While her journey through life and music has been less than conventional and full of ups and downs, she boldly speaks her truth and calls out the industry, and her own punk community, when they are being transphobic AF.

Photos by Veronica L Holyfield, @vleephotographs.