Billie Joe Armstrong is showing his support for the LGBTQ+ youth of America with Green Day’s upcoming 14th studio album Saviors.
The Grammy Award winner called the current anti-transgender attitudes “f—ing close-minded” during an interview with the Los Angeles Times as he discussed the group’s new LGBTQ+ anthem “Bobby Sox.”
“I just think they’re f—ing close-minded,” he 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, described “Bobby Sox” as “more of a queer singalong” as the lyrics flip the gender script, asking a woman to be his girlfriend and a man to be his boyfriend.
“Nowadays it’s more common for kids to be LGBTQ, and there’s more support,” explained Armstrong. “But for us, back in the day, that was like the beginning of when people were able to openly say things like that.”
Although the punk group — who released their debut album 39/Smooth in 1990 — recently said they stepped back from their usual political songwriting amid former president Donald Trump’s term, they recently took aim at his “MAGA agenda” in a performance of their hit song “American Idiot” on New Year’s Eve.
With Trump running for another term in 2024, transgender rights and other LGBTQ+ issues continue to serve as a heated political battleground.
Green Day’s Saviors is now open for pre-order before it’s available on streaming and download on Friday.
