Laura Jane Grace, the lead singer of Against Me! burned her birth certificate on stage Sunday night in protest of House Bill 2. The band was playing a scheduled show at Motorco in Durham.

As the document burned, Grace waved and said, “Goodbye gender!” Watch the fan-captured burning below.

I guess gender really is over since @LauraJaneGrace said goodbye to gender! #genderisover pic.twitter.com/EHXZJbMnM2 — Kathryn (@kwymer6) May 16, 2016



House Bill 2 was passed by the North Carolina General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Pat McCrory in March. The law was passed in response to a Charlotte anti-discrimination ordinance. It strips local governments in the state from passing laws that would grant anti-discrimination protection to people in the LGBT community. It also removes any power that local and county governments have to adopt living wage ordinances. Most of the controversy regarding the law has centered on a provision that requires a person to use the public bathroom that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificate.

Since the law was passed, businesses have condemned it, artists have cancelled shows, towns have passed resolutions, and lawsuits have been filed.

Grace told Buzzfeed that she intended on using the band’s North Carolina show to make a statement in an April interview:

“I’m going to create an event around the show as a form of protest to say that despite whatever stupid laws they enact, trans people are not going to be scared. They are not going to go away…An attack by a transgender person against another person in a bathroom has never been documented. There are more incidents of straight senators having issues in bathrooms than transgender people.”

Grace publicly came out as transgender in 2012.

On Monday afternoon, Grace shared more thoughts on the subject via Twitter.

I’m going to go on a minor rant while I sit here at the airport in North Carolina… Apologies for blowing up your feed…

— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

When I decided to start HRT I had to undergo months of intense psycho-therapy to prove to a licensed therapist that I am not crazy… — Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

I had to obtain a Doctors letter saying that my gender identity is indeed what I say it is. Why doesn’t that piece of paper hold weight?

— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

As if a birth certificate is some kind of eternally binding document. I never had any say in what was put on it. — Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

No one asked me

— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

I’ve been to every truck stop restroom in America and there’s always racists, homophobic, sexist, bigoted graffiti on the walls — Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

People who draw swastikas and KKK signs, people who think the president is a Muslim terrorist or that all Muslims are terrorists

— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

Those are the people to be afraid of — Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

Read the comment section on my @washingtonpost article. Nasty, closed minded people, who all think they are authorities on gender

— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

Personally I’ve never had a DNA or Chromosome test done, no one has any scientific proof either way on what my X, Y’s and Z’s look like — Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

I would hate to make anyone feel uncomfortable in a public restroom, male or female

— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

But I have the right to feel comfortable also — Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

So maybe it’s about asking… Maybe it’s okay to say to a stranger…

— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

“Excuse me, I’m a Trans female and I fear being violently assaulted in the men’s room and I just have to pee. Is that okay?” — Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

Or maybe as a society we can’t handle the freedom of public restrooms. All these people who are up in arms about this…

— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

Are the same people who piss all over toilet seats and trash public spaces and have no regard for whomever has the job of cleaning it up — Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

We’re talking about public restrooms here. I want to take a Purell bath just thinking about it.

— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

And the bigger issue with #HB2 is it takes away Trans people’s right to sue at a state level for discrimination. — Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

I’m fine with pissing and shitting outside like a dog but can I like at least have some assurance I won’t be denied housing or healthcare?

— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

Or can I at least be protected legally for pissing and shitting outside like a dog? Can we make that legal then? — Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

I never showered in gym class. I opted out and smoked cigarettes behind the gym like any sane person would.

— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016

If people really cared about safety in public restrooms they would ban convicted sex offenders from using them. — Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) May 16, 2016