28 votes

Beastie Boys paid for Donna Lee Parsons gender-affirming surgery

3 comments

  1. [2]
    drannex
    Link
    That is so insanely cool of them.

    Donna Lee Parsons isn’t particularly well-known in hardcore/punk circles, but she should be. She played a pivotal role in rock history.

    Before she transitioned, she founded Rat Cage Records, a record label that released the Beastie Boys’ first two EPs; she signed them at their very first show. Twenty years later, after Parsons came out as trans and the band’s meteoric rise to fame, the artists quietly paid for Parson’s gender affirmation surgery.

    According to member Adam Horovitz, since the men knew she wouldn’t accept the money if she saw it as a charitable act, they claimed they owed her royalties from their EP Polly Wog Stew.

    That is so insanely cool of them.

    21 votes
    1. countchocula
      Link Parent
      It really is. I have mad respect for the beastie boys from their obvious influence on music to the how outspoken they were at the time on social issues. Just another notch on their belt as good...

      It really is. I have mad respect for the beastie boys from their obvious influence on music to the how outspoken they were at the time on social issues. Just another notch on their belt as good people.

      16 votes
  2. HeroesJourneyMadness
    Link
    Had to boost the closing of the article: All I can say is Fuck Yeah.

    Had to boost the closing of the article:

    “So if you’ve ever worn a ‘lightning bolt’ t-shirt or listened to Victim in Pain or found yourself fondly recalling a Beastie Boys show you went to, you have a transgender woman to thank for that. And we should know her story. If you call yourself a hardcore kid, Donna Lee Parsons touched your life.”

    All I can say is Fuck Yeah.

    16 votes