Open letter:
Laura Jane Grace,
I ment to tell you this during our tour together..but you know how things go, I got sidetracked by the gigs, the sound checks, the sleeping at Motel 6s ... and the driving to catch up with the tour bus the next mornings...well, you know..., I just never got the chance.
So now, let me say...
Or, can I please say?
Thank you for inviting me.
Really.
Cuz I'm fucking old-school punk... old-school trans-punk.
Stupid old days.
I'm back in the dark days when we were relegated to nothing but underground music because it was just too damn early to be out, to be trans and a nasty, the crazy fetish-styled punk rock and roller self that I was.
...that I am.
But you know, I wouldn't change a thing.
And with all the other reasons I have.., and of course I have.., this is the reason I want to thank you most, especially with Trump's withdrawal today (Feb 23, 2017,) of Obama's protection of trans-kids in schools:
YOU gave me the chance to finally meet those trans-kids. Your fans.
I fucking worked so hard for so long trying to make it ok for kids to be themselves, cuz I was a trans-kid. A dumb trans kid born in the 60's and growing up in the 70's who didn't know shit about who I was or why I was, and cuz it was so fucking early that I struggled hard. But I knew there had to be more trans-kids like me out there. And I knew I could find my strength onstage. Strength to become myself and to not be ashamed anymore for who I was.
And so I tried to speak, tried to fucking scream to them. From my refuge, my tiny rock and roll stage....
And I knew they were there... but I could never find them... for all those years. Cuz it was the fucking dark days.
And to be brutal honest? I thought I'd ever live to see the day. I thought I'd never see anything but struggle.
But the goddamn world changed!
And I got to meet those kids. All those many kids. And I knew they were there. And cuz of you. And cuz it was just me running from stage to merch, and to be more honest? I was shaken to my core. Every night!
And can I just say now?
Just thank you.
For everything.
For being you.
Cuz we're never going back.
Cuz we're gonna stay strong.
And I promise, if we end up back in the fucked up dark-days again... well, I've lived them.... and I'll be right here.
-Venus de Mars
