Welcome to a collection of insightful and empowering quotes by Laura Jane Grace, a prominent musician, singer, and songwriter. As the lead vocalist and guitarist of the punk rock band Against Me!, Laura Jane Grace has not only made waves in the music industry but has also become a symbol of resilience, authenticity, and activism. Through her candid expression of personal struggles, gender identity, and societal issues, Grace has inspired countless individuals to embrace their true selves and stand up for what they believe in.
With her raw lyricism and unapologetic demeanor, Laura Jane Grace challenges norms and confronts taboos, offering a voice to those who often go unheard. Her words resonate with a sense of urgency and passion, urging listeners to question authority, embrace change, and fight for justice. Whether she’s addressing themes of identity, rebellion, or love, Grace’s words carry a profound depth that transcends music, touching the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life. Below, you’ll find a curated selection of Laura Jane Grace quotes, ready to inspire, provoke thought, and ignite action.
My favorite video game when I was a kid was this game called ‘Metroid’ and the main character of ‘Metroid’ was Samus. Samus has this body armor suit, helmet and everything except at the end of the game, the helmet comes off and it was revealed that Samus was actually a woman. Laura Jane Grace
To know that the people who are singing along at your show actually have something in common with you and can identify with what you’ve gone through, makes the songs that much more meaningful to sing. Laura Jane Grace
Chicago prides itself on being a mean city. Laura Jane Grace
I guess I get a little impatient and frustrated when people ask what ‘Manic Depression’ is about. Laura Jane Grace
Growing up, my experience with transsexualism was nothing but shame. It was something very hidden, and dealt with very privately. Laura Jane Grace
People don’t have to understand a language to understand the emotion and sentiment behind a song. Laura Jane Grace
Two Coffins’ is a song I wrote for my daughter. Laura Jane Grace
I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and I’ve kept journals since I was eight years old. Laura Jane Grace
Trying to cause chaos – I think that’s the way I create change. Laura Jane Grace
It would be weird enough just being in a band trying to date. It makes it harder being a parent. And it makes it really interesting when you’re trans. Laura Jane Grace
It’s not like I came out in ‘Rolling Stone’ and all of a sudden I had a closet full of all the clothes I want. Laura Jane Grace
Hormone replacement therapy does not change or affect your voice. And I have no problem with my voice: I really like my singing voice, I don’t feel any dysphoria with my talking voice. Laura Jane Grace
Fred Durst gave my first wife a tattoo of a star on the bottom of her foot when she was 14 years old in his trailer home. So that was my first introduction to Limp Bizkit. Laura Jane Grace
I’ve never had trouble talking and expressing my feelings. Laura Jane Grace
Being able to write about love through a trans lens is something that’s not really represented when it comes to love songs. Laura Jane Grace
I’d never have imagined it when I was younger. A trans woman on the cover of ‘Time?’ That is unfathomable to the 15-year-old me. Laura Jane Grace
When I was 19 or 20, the way I was an activist was by regularly meeting with groups, going to protests, and being there on the ground. Laura Jane Grace
I was always attracted to women. Laura Jane Grace
Striving to make music that empowers people as opposed to making them feel like they’re being beaten down every single day is so important. Laura Jane Grace
Maybe you don’t know who a person is just based on the way they dress. I know that’s a really simple thing you’re supposed to be taught really young, but sometimes you can forget. Laura Jane Grace
I dealt with depression for my whole life. That’s not something that was caused by being trans. Laura Jane Grace
Going on tour for 10 years straight and playing 200-plus shows a year, you can’t ever come back from that mentally. You’re twisted in a weird way where you need that in order to be a person still. Laura Jane Grace
Living in Italy meant growing up without MTV. Laura Jane Grace
The key to being a great band that lasts is always going to be making sure you write really good songs and put on really good shows. Laura Jane Grace
My earliest memories are of dysphoria. Laura Jane Grace
Eating’s really important before getting tattooed. You need energy. Laura Jane Grace
I fear cops and have never felt the protection of them. Laura Jane Grace
A lot of people don’t perceive me as female or trans, they just see some rocker. Laura Jane Grace
My least favorite thing about being in a band is photo shoots and video shoots. I like writing songs. Laura Jane Grace
Saying to someone ‘I’m a transsexual’ is the most empowering thing I’ve ever felt in my whole life. Laura Jane Grace
As an artist, you’re just observing the world around you. So much is overwhelming and it’s all so inescapable that it can’t all speak to general cultural statements. Laura Jane Grace
If you look at the difference between the first Clash record and ‘Combat Rock,’ what an evolution. Laura Jane Grace
I was always taught by punk to think for yourself and to question authority. That’s what I’ve always tried to do. Laura Jane Grace
I had some real health complications with my HRT – hormone replacement therapy. Laura Jane Grace
I have gender dysphoria and body dysmorphia. I don’t like to see pictures of myself. Laura Jane Grace
Any way that I can use my career or my platform to push along transgender visibility in the mainstream and society serves me on a personal level in that it will make day-to-day existence when I’m not doing this that much easier. Laura Jane Grace
There were definitely songs in the past that were me dealing with living this gender dysphoria, and sometimes they were really direct and no one picked up on it – but oftentimes, they were more veiled in metaphor. Laura Jane Grace
I guess I’ve been existing in my own head a lot. Laura Jane Grace
When I’m on tour, people see me in one way, but in normal life I doubt people even recognize me. Laura Jane Grace
I’ve been keeping tour journals since I was 17 years old. Laura Jane Grace
My father was stationed in Italy in the military. I had no one to feed me what was cool, so I was into Guns N’ Roses and New Kids on the Block and MC Hammer and a lot of ’80s hair bands. But I was never into Motley Crue, they never stuck with me. Laura Jane Grace
I’m a musician and I listen to music all the time. If there’s something out there where someone would tell me that I should listen to, I would listen to it. Laura Jane Grace
You know, sexism in the punk scene – or just in rock and roll in general – is so easily demonstrated by the amount of women or queer people that you see on stage versus the amount of cis males that you see on stage. Laura Jane Grace
I think that on paper we did make so many of the classic mistakes that a punk band makes, signing to a major label, getting in business with the wrong people, stuff like that. Laura Jane Grace
At 20, I was married, working as an auto mechanic, and living in Gainesville. I was doing Against Me!, but it wasn’t by any means a full-time gig. Laura Jane Grace
I sleep with a notebook next to me, and most nights I sleep with my guitar next to me. Laura Jane Grace
Butch Vig was a true friend and really guided us, and it was such a fulfilling relationship with a person to make records with. Laura Jane Grace
My first record I ever got was ‘Full Moon Fever.’ My dad gave me a copy when I was maybe nine years old or something. And I listened to the heck out of that record. I loved that record. Laura Jane Grace
As technology and science advances, I think the ability to alter yourself should be embraced. Laura Jane Grace
To me, the songs that I’m most thankful to have been a part of creating are the songs that are able to adapt and change over the years and that mean different things to you at different periods of time in your life. Laura Jane Grace
When I was fourteen years old, I got arrested for battering an officer and resisting arrest with violence. I was beat up by the cops and they charged me with that. There was no original arresting charge. Laura Jane Grace
I want to write songs, and I would like to play and sing them. I’m not a politician; I’m not a comedian. I hate coming up with bits to do between songs. Laura Jane Grace
Every artist has the song where they say, ‘I wish I could have written a song as good as this,’ but they don’t feel like they’ve done it yet. It pushes you to evolve. Laura Jane Grace
Musicians are kind of like pirates, you know? You have to be free to follow whatever your muse is, or wherever life is pulling you – especially if you aren’t in, like, U2, and making millions and millions of dollars. Laura Jane Grace
Growing up, I never had a role model to show me that you can be trans and live a happy life. I hope that I can be that source of hope for someone out there who’s struggling. Laura Jane Grace
Manic depression in general is something that runs in my family, and it’s something that I battle with. Laura Jane Grace
I moved to Naples, Florida, and by 15 I was into punk: Green Day, Rancid, NOFX, Operation Ivy. Along with the classic punk bands, like the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Misfits, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat – all those bands that you get into when you’re first getting into punk. Laura Jane Grace
Every musician out there wants to be judged on the merit of their songwriting, the merit of their performing abilities. Laura Jane Grace
I look like a dude and feel like a dude, and it sucks. But eventually I’ll flip, and I’ll present as female. Laura Jane Grace
If I want someone to recognize the gender identity I feel, I’d have to ask for that. I can’t assume people will know how I’d like to be treated on their own. Laura Jane Grace
That’s one of the biggest fears a lot of trans people have if they decide to come out, that they’re making themselves unlovable and that they’ll never have a relationship again. Laura Jane Grace
I recognize that I’m in a band, and part of being in a band is doing interviews, and I do have a platform so I want to use that platform to talk about things that are real. Laura Jane Grace
I had gone from being married with a kid, two cars, garage, nice house in a nice neighborhood to all of it gone. Laura Jane Grace
A lot of what keeps me going is wanting to be better, thinking I’m not good enough. Laura Jane Grace
I felt more and more like I was putting on an act – like I was being shoved into this role of ‘angry white man in a punk band.’ Laura Jane Grace
I’m just me and if me being honest about who I am and putting myself out there in that way makes connections with people and helps people out, that’s just repaying the favor of music because that’s what music does for me. Laura Jane Grace
I had definitely stopped watching MTV by 2000. Laura Jane Grace
I feel self-conscious for even having met so many other band people and artists, I don’t want to be that artist that is only able to talk about themselves and their own band. I don’t want to be that person. I’d rather just be quiet than be that person. Laura Jane Grace
At 8, I got my first cassette, which was Def Leppard’s ‘Hysteria.’ Laura Jane Grace
I don’t feel like I’ve ever been in mainstream society. Laura Jane Grace
I like the idea that the body is a vessel, that it’s not necessarily representative of the real you that’s inside of it. Laura Jane Grace
In a perfect world, in my opinion, ‘they,’ ‘them,’ and ‘theirs’ would be the pronouns that everyone would use. Laura Jane Grace
My whole identity is not gender. My whole identity is not talking about gender. There are so many other things in my life that are fulfilling that I like to think about too. Laura Jane Grace
I think the hardest part for musicians is what a wide gulf of time there is between when you decide to sober up and when you have the ability to navigate being social and having relationships and being in a band and having friends while sober. Laura Jane Grace
I never get to forget who I am, my gender identity. Laura Jane Grace
What people don’t realize when they talk about our lineup changes is that the original Against Me! broke up in 2001. It never recorded a full-length record. Laura Jane Grace
Any doctor will tell you a great treatment for depression is exercise, physical exertion, that it really ups the dopamine in your brain, so that’s what a show is. I play a show and that’s a high for me; I can ride that. Laura Jane Grace
I’m totally fine with myself. It’s the other people I run into out there who are so hung up on gender. The way it trips them up is their problem, not mine. Laura Jane Grace
I grew up with a mother who always had every fashion magazine stacked up on the side of her bed. When I was really young, I’d lie in bed with her, and we’d look at the magazines. Laura Jane Grace
Trans people should be able to fall in love and sing love songs too, and have that be just as valid. You turn on the radio and every other song is some guy singing about some girl who broke his heart, or vice versa. And there’s not a lot of trans representation with that. Laura Jane Grace
Writing your memoir is inherently narcissistic. Laura Jane Grace
I’ve gotten to do some really amazing things, gone to some really amazing places, and just have some really unique experiences. And if I have one regret looking back it’s that – not a regret even, because I think that’s kind of labeling depression as something you can control – but I just wish I would have been able to enjoy it more fully. Laura Jane Grace
The period of time between when you’re done with a record and when you start touring is the worst period of a time in a musician’s life. Laura Jane Grace
I was married for like seven, eight years. And then coming out of that I was like, ‘Okay, now what? I guess I would like to date? That’s a reasonable thing. I’m allowed to have that!’ Laura Jane Grace
What I learned early on, is that it’s not really fun to do things alone. Laura Jane Grace
I grew up in Italy, so for me, Naples pizza is the only type of pizza that there really is. Laura Jane Grace
I’m big on hair. I love Julianne Moore’s hair. That’s all I’d like: Julianne Moore hair. Laura Jane Grace
I want to be an involved parent in my daughter’s life and do the things that other parents do, like go to the PTA meetings. Laura Jane Grace
The first record we made, we recorded and mixed in a day. The second record was recorded and mixed in a week. The third was recorded and mixed in a month, and ‘New Wave’ was mixed and recorded in six months. It was an epic project. Laura Jane Grace
Most people I know stopped talking to me after I came out. Laura Jane Grace
For most people who are transitioning, surgery isn’t really a financial reality. So to place these goals of ‘in order to be happy with my body, I must do this thing’ is really damaging to yourself. Laura Jane Grace
As a trans person, I don’t feel welcome in most public spaces. Especially now with Trump, I don’t feel faith or recognize that we’re protected by the government or administration. Laura Jane Grace
The idea of Ryley Walker not ever listening to Leonard Cohen is like me going out to dinner and them telling me that they’ve never had spaghetti or whatever. Laura Jane Grace
I just want to play shows and write songs and make music. That’s what feels good. Laura Jane Grace
I remember being really young – being 13 or 14 – when I first was really excited about punk rock as an idea, and I was like, ‘Don’t ever not be punk. Don’t ever not be punk.’ Telling that to myself, I guess it was like self-defense against the scary world around me. Laura Jane Grace
I turned to punk because I didn’t fit in anywhere else. Laura Jane Grace
Society doesn’t portray transsexual people in a very positive light. Laura Jane Grace
I just always knew that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a musician. I never had any doubts. Laura Jane Grace
I really like dumb romantic comedies; that’s the way I can turn my brain off and let go. Laura Jane Grace
I don’t want to be just that transgender performer or that transgender musical artist. I want to create songs and art and have those be judged on their merit alone. Laura Jane Grace
