Tom Gabel's Transgender News: What Does It Mean For Her Marriage?

Tegan and Sara, Fun., Gaslight Anthem, Senses Fail tweet their support to Against Me! singer.
By Gil Kaufman

Tom Gabel of Against Me!
Photo: Getty Images

Against Me! singer Tom Gabel has received an outpouring of support from his musical peers in light of his announcement on Tuesday that he plans to begin life as a woman. His brave decision decision to go public with his transgender status earn praise from fellow musicians including Fun., Tegan and Sara, Senses Fail and Gaslight Anthem.

The news came just hours before a vote on Tuesday in North Carolina to pass a constitutional amendment
 banning gay marriage, but just before President Obama stated publicly in an ABC interview on Wednesday (May 9) that he personally supports gay marriage. During a cycle that brought highs and lows in the ongoing debate over gay marriage, one of the questions that arose in the MTV Newsroom following Gabel's news was whether it would have an impact on his wife and their marriage.

Though Florida is not one of the six states in the nation that recognize marriages between same-sex partners, Gabel's declaration won't change his marital status either way, according to Lisa Mottet, Director of the Transgender Civil Rights Project at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

"Under established law, marriages are evaluated for their validity at the time of marriage, i.e., the date of the wedding/when the marriage license was signed," she said. "Only divorces, death, and annulments end marriages — gender transition does not end a marriage, nor convert it to a same-sex marriage. If two people were considered different sex at the time of their wedding, they will continue to be considered married until death, divorce, or annulment."

Gabel came out as transgender and discussed plans to begin living as a woman in the next issue of Rolling Stone magazine. He will now go by the name Laura Jane Grace and remain married to wife Heather, while undergoing electrolysis treatments and taking hormones to make the transition from male to female.

"For me, the most terrifying thing about this was how she would accept the news," Gabel told the magazine about his Heather's reaction. "But she's been super-amazing and understanding."

Gabel has dealt with gender dysphoria for years and decided it was a good time to speak up about the private struggle, telling only a few family members and friends about the upcoming transition before talking with the magazine. "I'm going to have embarrassing moments, and that won't be fun," Gabel said of coming out. "But that's part of what talking to you is about -- is hoping people will understand, and hoping they'll be fairly kind."

A number of his peers praised his bravery, including the members of Fun., who tweeted, "Reading about Tom Gabel coming out as transgender = inspiring. Always been a fan but it's even more amazing to know how strong & brave she is."

Openly gay twin sister rockers Tegan & Sara weighed in also calling Gabel "so incredibly brave." Congratulations and support also came from the members of Senses Fail, Broadway Calls, Toxicbreed, I Am the Avalanche, Motel Life and Circa Survive.

One of the most heartfelt notes was posted by Gaslight Anthem singer Brian Fallon, who preemptively struck out at anyone criticizing the decision. "So Tom's gonna be Laura now... and in 2012 I still find people on the internet commenting on another person's life how they insult and condemn a person for his choices," he wrote.

"How about the people who go through this and never find peace and end up committing suicide? Would you rather that? Or maybe he could become a raging drug addict and ruin his life and family? Would you rather that? Or maybe we could have rules from a dictator where everyone gets killed for anything they believe against the government, oh wait, that doesn't work ... How about you leave the guy alone. How about you let another human being make a decision about their lives without your snide prejudices and bigotry? This is one of the hardest decisions a person can make ... Whether you agree or don't, it's not your life. It's not your family. It's not your band, it's theirs."

And it wasn't just musicians, as WWE wrestling champ CM Punk also weighed in, writing, "@tommygabel courage and bravery. I got your back."

What do you think of Tom Gabel's announcement? Let us know in comments below.

Related Artists

• Rise Against

eli young band wrestlemania country music awards 2012 wrestlemania 28 results earl scruggs game of thrones game of thrones season 2

Astronut for iPad review

Astronut for iPad is an interstellar treasure of a game. Created by the amazing Iconfactory, the talent behind Twitterrific and Ramp Champ, the premise is as simple as it is fun. You ricochet through deep space, using the gravity of planets and other celestial bodies to slingshot you in just the right direction to avoid hostile aliens and inhospitable singularities, and collect shards and other rewards.

lakers orioles correspondents dinner i am legend san antonio spurs greta van susteren tony parker

McCaskill gets extra security after "kill the Claire bear" remark (Washington Bureau)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

ufc 141 lesnar vs overeem appetizer recipes alistair overeem alistair overeem texas a m insight bowl

Effect of groundwater use: Using water from wells leads to sea level rise, cancels out effect of dams

ScienceDaily (May 8, 2012) ? As people pump groundwater for irrigation, drinking water, and industrial uses, the water doesn't just seep back into the ground -- it also evaporates into the atmosphere, or runs off into rivers and canals, eventually emptying into the world's oceans. This water adds up, and a new study calculates that by 2050, groundwater pumping will cause a global sea level rise of about 0.8 millimeters per year.

"Other than ice on land, the excessive groundwater extractions are fast becoming the most important terrestrial water contribution to sea level rise," said Yoshihide Wada, with Utrecht University in the Netherlands and lead author of the study. In the coming decades, he noted, groundwater contributions to sea level rise are expected to become as significant as those of melting glaciers and ice caps outside of Greenland and the Antarctic.

Between around 1970 and 1990, sea level rise caused by groundwater pumping was cancelled out as people built dams, trapping water in reservoirs so the water wouldn't empty into the sea, Wada said. His research shows that starting in the 1990s, that changed as populations started pumping more groundwater and building fewer dams.

The researchers looked not only at the contribution of groundwater pumping, which they had investigated before, but also at other factors that influence the amount of terrestrial water entering the oceans, including marsh drainage, forest clearing, and new reservoirs. Wada and his colleagues calculate that by mid-century, the net effect of these additional factors is an additional 0.05 mm per year of annual sea level rise, on top of the contribution from groundwater pumping alone.

The research team's article is being published May 9 in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

The last report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 addressed the effect on sea level rise of melting ice on land, including glaciers and ice caps, Wada said. But it didn't quantify the future contribution from other terrestrial water sources, such as groundwater, reservoirs, wetlands and more, he said, because the report's authors thought the estimates for those sources were too uncertain.

"They assumed that the positive and negative contribution from the groundwater and the reservoirs would cancel out," Wada said. "We found that wasn't the case. The contribution from the groundwater is going to increase further, and outweigh the negative contribution from reservoirs."

In the current study, the researchers estimated the impact of groundwater depletion since 1900 using data from individual countries on groundwater pumping, model simulations of groundwater recharge, and reconstructions of how water demand has changed over the years. They also compared and corrected those estimates with observations from sources such as the GRACE satellite, which uses gravity measurements to determine variations in groundwater storage.

With these groundwater depletion rates, Wada and his colleagues estimate that in 2000, people pumped about 204 cubic kilometers (49 cubic miles) of groundwater, most of which was used for irrigation. Most of this, in turn, evaporates from plants, enters the atmosphere and rains back down. Taking into account the seepage of groundwater back into the aquifers, as well as evaporation and runoff, the researchers estimated that groundwater pumping resulted in sea level rise of about 0.57 mm in 2000 -- much greater than the 1900 annual sea level rise of 0.035 mm.

The researchers also projected groundwater depletion, reservoir storage, and other impacts for the rest of the century, using climate models and projected population growth and land use changes. The increase in groundwater depletion between 1900 and 2000 is due mostly to increased water demands, the researchers find. But the increase projected between 2000 and 2050 is mostly due to climate-related factors like decreased surface water availability and irrigated agricultural fields that dry out faster in a warmer climate.

If things continue as projected, Wada estimates that by 2050, the net, cumulative effect of these non-ice, land-based water sources and reservoirs -- including groundwater pumping, marsh drainage, dams, and more -- will have added 31 mm to sea level rise since 1900.

The new study assumes that, where there is groundwater, people will find a way to extract it, Wada said, but some of his colleagues are investigating the limits of groundwater extraction. One way to decrease groundwater's contribution to sea level rise, he noted, is to improve water efficiency in agriculture -- to grow more with less groundwater.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Geophysical Union.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Yoshihide Wada, Ludovicus P. H. van Beek, Frederiek C. Sperna Weiland, Benjamin F. Chao, Yun-Hao Wu, Marc F. P. Bierkens. Past and future contribution of global groundwater depletion to sea-level rise. Geophysical Research Letters, 2012; 39 (9) DOI: 10.1029/2012GL051230

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

kansas vs ohio state winning mega million numbers bruce weber boston globe google maps 8 bit mirror mirror robyn

Scosche debuts Revolt H4, a four-port, 10W USB charger at CTIA Wireless

Say goodbye to swapping out the litany of chargers at your desk or nightstand. It's time to streamline, and the crew at Scosche have a rather nice solution. The company is taking the wraps off of its Revolt H4 USB charger, which offers four 10W (2.1A) USB ports that'll properly (and quickly) reinvigorate up to four smartphones or tablets simultaneously. Sure, it's nothing like the 16 port behemoth of the PowerPad, but this is for home use, and we can't deny -- it's quite the temptress. Consumers may choose between the base model or the Revolt H4 Pro, which offers a micro-USB cable along with an adapter for Apple's dock connector. As another product of interest, Scosche is similarly introducing its 2.1 amp Recoil II car charger, which allows users to cut down on the clutter with its retractable cable while also quickly juicing up a single iOS device -- just hop the break for a peek. Pricing isn't yet available for either, but keep your eye on Scosche's website for the official word. For other charging solutions, you'll find the full PR after the break.

Continue reading Scosche debuts Revolt H4, a four-port, 10W USB charger at CTIA Wireless

Scosche debuts Revolt H4, a four-port, 10W USB charger at CTIA Wireless originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 May 2012 07:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

marlins marlins facebook buys instagram kevin systrom amanda bynes fibonacci sequence maryland lottery

Olympus Releases Rugged TG-1 Point And Shoot Camera

The latest in what I like to call pro-point-and-shoots (I'd put the Canon G12 and the S95 in this category), the TG-1 from Olympus promises high-speed, f2.0 snapshots in a body that can take a lick and, potentially, keep on ticking. When we last saw Olympus, they were killing it with their micro 4/3s models. This one, at 12-megapixel shooter, is a little bit different but it still is compelling enough to carry as a second camera. It has a backlit CMOS sensor and TruePic VI image processor as well as high-speed autofocus and a 10x zoom.

cruise ship italy patriots broncos game saints willis mcgahee willis mcgahee ship aground off italy nfl playoff schedule 2012

Hands-on with SuperTooth Disco2

Move over Jambox, there's a new portable audio contender entering the market. The Disco2, shown off at this week's CTIA 2012, is SuperTooth's smaller, more compact sequel to its O.G. 28 watt powerhouse of the same name and a direct threat to the niche market occupied by Jawbone. Housed in a colorful hourglass-shaped design that should please the style-minded, this rechargeable speaker connects over Bluetooth to your device of choice, outputting 16 watts of 360 degree sound through two speakers and a subwoofer. It's set to hit the market mid-month priced at $99, but for consumers that want a bit more of an aural punch, an additional unit can actually be paired up to deliver a fuller stereo effect. Judging from its powerful performance on the noisy showroom floor, however, you'd probably be fine with just the one. Click on below to take a better look at the company's curvy offering.

Gallery: SuperTooth Disco2 hands-on

Sean Cooper contributed to this report.

Hands-on with SuperTooth Disco2 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 May 2012 21:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

shell houston open ray allen mega millions winners anthony davis palm sunday toure patti smith