You know those memes of certain Rage Against the Machine fans discovering the band’s political leanings and freaking out (or even trying to start a counter group)? Well, it’s happened again, but this time with Laura Jane Grace and conservative online personality Tim Pool, who’s mad that the leftist trans artist is making leftist trans art.
In a resurfaced clip from March of Tim Pool reacting to Grace’s performance of “Your God (God’s Dick)” at a Bernie Sanders rally, the commentator blasted the song’s lyrics and message. He explained how he used to be a fan of the Chicago punk and her band Against Me! scene before going on to delegitimize her transition, using Grace’s deadname several times along the way.
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“I believe Laura Jane Grace largely weaponized being trans for money, and this is coming from somebody who was deeply influenced and was a fan before … the transition,” he said.
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From there, he details his theory that Against Me! was failing and in debt, which presumably led Grace to transition because that would lead to… more money? Something like that. He also claims that friends of his saw Grace admit as much at a 2012 concert.
In response, Grace told Rolling Stone, “I have no idea what the fuck he was talking about… He made up some moment about me being onstage in Chicago and confessing or something like that. I can produce a doctors’ note saying ‘this person is transgender,’ which is essentially what you have to get to give to a doctor when you get FFS like I’ve had, or the letter the psychologist had to write for me so that an endocrinologist would prescribe me HRT. I’ve jumped through all the hoops they put in front of me, it’s never enough — that’s what shows you these people are full of shit.”
Grace also shared screenshots of messages Pool sent to her in 2016. They read, “Your music was a huge influence on me in my skateboarding anarcho youth phase. I used to cover Against Me! busking in the Chicago subway. I’d love to help in any way! Stoked to read your book [Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout].” This is despite Pool’s claims that his fandom of Grace and her work ended when she transitioned in 2012.
“I’m a huge fan of Laura’s earlier work,” Pool wrote to Rolling Stone in response. “My disappointment with Grace is the ‘shock’ attempt at getting attention by being vulgar. Regardless, I will still play and sing Grace’s work though as I get older I can see sometimes the younger Grace’s lyrics were naive. I do find it beautifully ironic to see Grace perform at a rally for a prominent Democrat.”
Revisit our classic review of Against Me!’s Transgender Dysphoria Blues here. You can also check out her book, the one that Pool was “stoked to read,” here. She also has a host of tour dates coming up; Pick up tickets here.
