Against Me!, Transgender Dysphoria Blues | Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈

In the 40th edition of Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 (2024), we highlight the song, “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” performed by Against Me!. 

Prepare to beam with P-R-I-D-E 🏳️‍🌈! Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 celebrates, embraces, and spotlights songs by LGBTQ musicians or allies.  Here, we provide background and insight into musician(s) and analyze + go gaga over the decadent bops served up.  When the music dictates deeper, more transcendent discussion, we ensure the point is fully articulated.  All styles of music are welcome while the songs can be classics or brand-spanking new. So, without further ado, in the 40^th edition of Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 (2024), we highlight “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” performed by Against Me!.

“You want them to see you / Like they see every other girl / They just see a faggot / They hold their breath not to catch the sick.” That is a personal, powerful set of lyrics Laura Jane Grace sings in the pre-chorus of “Transgender Dysphoria Blues.” In those lyrics, Grace paints a portrait of how she’s viewed as a transgender woman.  Often, when people don’t agree or understand something, they are quick to cry foul and condemn it which is unfortunate.  Notably, the frontwoman of Against Me! came out publicly as trans in 2012.  Transgender Dysphoria Blues, released in 2014, marked her first album as Laura Jane Grace.  The title track, as well as other songs, capture her experience.   

“Rough surf on the coast

I wish I could have spent the whole day alone

Rough surf on the coast

I wish I could have spent the whole day alone with you.”

The keyword is alone, and it seems to capture the isolation and the desire to be left alone – not abused, bullied, or criticized because she’s trans. “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” commences the album energetically. Grace delivers blunt lyrics.  This is her account regarding being transgender.  Her brutal honesty pays off. For us unfamiliar with the trans experience, she has us imagine taking a walk in her shoes. “Your tells are so obvious / shoulders too broad for a girl,” she sings in the first verse. In the second, she adds, “You’ve got no cunt in your strut / You’ve got no hips to shake / And you know it’s obvious / But we can’t choose how we’re made.” A heavy listening, perhaps a trigger from some, Laura Jane Grace does a masterful job on “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” of expressing her feelings and speaking her truth.  A decade later, this song and album are as powerful as ever.

Against Me! // Transgender Dysphoria Blues // Total Treble // 2014

Against Me!, Transgender Dysphoria Blues: Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 No. 40 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner/ The Musical Hype; Total Treble; Elias Souza, Los Muertos Crew from Pexels; CatsWithGlasses, David, Maicon Fonseca Zanco, Square Frog, Sudo from Pixabay]