Laura Jane Grace's Ex-Wife Lashes Out at Misrepresentation in 'Rolling Stone'

BY Sarah MurphyPublished Sep 27, 2016

Against Me! frontwoman Laura Jane Grace publicly came out as a trans woman in Rolling Stone back in 2012, but a new article about the punk singer in the same magazine isn't garnering quite the same support.
 
Grace's ex-wife Heather Gabel posted a scathing message on Facebook last week, accusing Rolling Stone of a "gross misrepresentation of LJ's gender identity."
 
Grace and Gabel were married in 2007, had a child in 2009 and separated in 2013, though Gabel denies that Grace's transition was the reason for their split. In addition to what she describes as "sensational hetero drama," Gabel laments the fact that reporter Alex Morris "completely botched what could have been a really eye opening, powerful piece that other non-binary gendered people could have found something relevant or relatable to."
 
Furthermore, she criticized the magazine's decision to publish an uncensored photo of Grace, who appears half-submerged in a bathtub with her nipples in plain sight.
 
"Rolling Stone has never published a photograph of a non trans woman's nipples uncensored before, which, to me, reads as them making arbitrary distinctions between trans and non trans women, which is fucked up," she wrote. "Everyone's tits should be legal. In my opinion, this is not a subversive decision aimed at giving censorship the middle finger, it's a blatant example of misgendering, of gender inequality, and a general slap in the face to anyone who expects to have their gender identity respected."
 
She shared a DIY doctored version of the same photo with some creatively placed stars as censors, adding: "Believe me, I want everyone's tits out, I am in no way supporting the idea that censorship of women's nipples is ok at all, but since Rolling Stone censors women's nipples the photo should have looked a little more like this."
 
Read Gabel's entire message, including a letter she sent to Rolling Stone pointing out inaccurate depictions of her responses, below.
 

Against Me! just released their latest record Shape Shift with Me. Grace's memoir, Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout, is out on November 15.

Read Grace's recent responses to the Exclaim! Questionnaire here.

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