LIFE OF AGONY Singer Talks About Hardships Faced By Transgendered People

LIFE OF AGONY singer Keith Caputo, who recently revealed that he is "transitioning" into life as a woman and has begun to refer to himself as "her" on his official web site, was asked by U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine whether he thinks society is tolerant of people who have chosen to undergone sex changes. "No, I don't," Caputo said. "The whole system we live in is discriminative and fucked up. Everything's fucked up. There are no toilets for transgendered people, for example, which is why there are so many beatings and brutalities. If the authorities and the people who make laws would be sensitive towards the idea that humans come in all shapes, in different forms and desires, then there would be a lot more love in the world."

When asked if there are many misconceptions regarding the transgender issue, Keith said, "Definitely. People think that because you're transgendered you're homosexual which I'm not and sucking dick now. There's such a misunderstanding of what it means. The truth of that matter is that gender is in the brain and sexuality is in the genitals."

Regarding what the mechanics of his "transition" involved, Keith said, "I started seeing a psychologist and went through all the necessary steps that I needed to require an endocrinologist [specially trained doctor who diagnoses diseases that affect the glands. Ed.]. There's certain laws and regulations that a transgendered person needs to go through before one can acquire hormones. You can't just walk into an office and say, 'Hey, I'm transgendered, give me hormones, I want to grow tits!'"

The singer who has adopted the name "Keith Mina Caputo" told the magazine that he was just eight years old when he realized that he didn't identify as a member of the gender he was assigned at birth, but because of the environment he grew up in, he could not go through with the transition until now.

"Because of my upbringing and LIFE OF AGONY coming into my life, it was also a very male-dominated source of energy," he said. "I always felt uncomfortable because I was surrounded by these macho, alpha-male types.

Caputo recently wrote on his Twitter account, "Male-to-female transsexuals like me are the women who give up male privilege for femininity! Threaten the patriarchy!" He also responded to a question from a fan about the demise of LIFE OF AGONY by writing, "LIFE OF AGONY has already gone into isolation and it's got nothing to do with me transitioning [to a woman]."

In a June 5, 2011 interview with "DeadDave's Internet Radio Show", Caputo stated, "I live a completely, totally different lifestyle. I'm a completely different human being. I have a very different path in life. I'm not living life as a man anymore and stuff. So, yeah, my life is completely different, but music will always be music is definitely my driving force."

Caputo previously used cross-dressing images of himself in the artwork for his 2008 album "A Fondness For Hometown Scars" and dedicated the CD to androgynous people.

In a July 11 tweet, Caputo said, "my cousins even get on me for being transgender, calling me the dumbest names, but it's all in good fun; they'll really kill for me." The vocalist also re-tweeted a story from Metal Insider claiming the singer was due to get a sex change. He replied with the message, "Thanks for being sweet and respectful. Deeply appreciate it. [For you information], I'm keeping my penis!"

Photo below courtesy of Caputo's Facebook page