Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong slams transphobes as 'close-minded'

Billie Joe Armstrong rejects the "close-minded" moral panic over transgender youth.

The lead singer of iconic rock band Green Day recently revealed exactly what he thinks of transphobic people, telling The Los Angeles Times that he believes it's ridiculous to be "afraid" of trans children.

“I just think they’re fucking close-minded,” Armstrong said. “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, who is bisexual, first came out to The Advocate in a 1995 interview. He continued to tell The Times about the band's upcoming album, Saviors, which features a new song Armstrong dubbed a "queer singalong."

"Bobby Sox" features the lyrics, which Armstrong shared: “Doesn’t matter when we are in love / You’re not just any type of girl / My one true love and you’re my world / Do you wanna be my girlfriend? / Do you wanna be my boyfriend?”

While the song is dedicated to his wife, Adrienne, Armstrong noted that it was freeing to openly sing about another man as a love interest.

“I’m kind of playing the character of the woman, but it also felt really liberating to sing, ‘Do you wanna be my boyfriend?’" he continued. "It became more of a queer singalong.”

Armstrong told the outlet that when he played the song for a long-time friend of the same age, it caused him to tear up, and they both reflected on just how far the queer community has come since Green Day first began making music in 1987.

“It brought a tear to his eye when he heard the second verse. Nowadays it’s more common for kids to be LGBTQ, and there’s more support," Armstrong said. "But for us, back in the day, that was like the beginning of when people were able to openly say things like that.”

Saviors comes out on January 19.