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Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong laid into anti-LGBTQ+ conservatives for their "moral panic over transgender youths" and called them "f'king close-minded" in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Armstrong, who has been out as bisexual as early as the mid-1990s at the height of Green Day's popularity, was joined by his bandmates Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool and discussed the political themes touched on in their upcoming album Saviors.
One of the cuts from the album is a song called "Bobby Sox" in which the singer asks, “Do you wanna be my girlfriend?”—one of many sweet nothings he utters to his wife of nearly 30 years, Adrienne Nesser.
The 51-year-old continued, telling the Times:
“But then in the next verse, I thought I should flip the script."
"I’m kind of playing the character of the woman, but it also felt really liberating to sing, ‘Do you wanna be my boyfriend?"
“It became more of a queer singalong.”
When Armstrong played the song for a friend who is of the same age and from an era when LGBTQ+ themes were not as prevalent and considered taboo, the friend got emotional.
"It brought a tear to his eye when he heard the second verse," recalled the singer.
He added:
“Nowadays it’s more common for kids to be LGBTQ, and there’s more support."
"But for us, back in the day, that was like the beginning of when people were able to openly say things like that.”
While much progress was achieved toward improving LGBTQ+ representation in the media, there has been major pushback in recent years from conservatives and homophobic GOP lawmakers.
Examples of Republican mobilization efforts include the passing of anti-LGBTQ+ and transphobic legislation, including the banning of drag performances and denying gender-affirming care for minors across the U.S.
When asked by the news outlet what Armstrong and his bandmates thought of "the current moral panic over transgender youths?" Armstrong responded:
“I just think they’re f— close-minded."
Users on X (formerly Twitter) agreed.
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He wondered where the conservative fear stemmed from.
“It’s like people are afraid of their children."
"Why would you be afraid? Why don’t you let your kid just be the kid that they are?”
Armstrong publicly identifies as bisexual and has never been apprehensive about openly discussing his sexuality.
In a 1995 interview with The Advocate, he said bisexuality should never be an issue.
"I think I've always been bisexual. I mean, it's something that I've always been interested in.," said Armstrong.
"I think people are born bisexual, and it's just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of, 'Oh, I can't.' They say it's taboo."
"It's ingrained in our heads that it's bad, when it's not bad at all. It's a very beautiful thing."
He also told Out Magazine:
"The fact that it is an issue is kind of phobic within itself. At some point ... this should be something that's just accepted."
Green Day's October 2023 track "The American Dream is Killing Me" is the lead single from the upcoming Saviors album, which will be released on January 19.
The 14th studio album is the band's first since 2020's Father of All Motherf'kers, and it comes ahead of the anniversary of their 1994 major-label debut album, Dookie.