In a post on his “Red Hand Fileswebsite, Nick Cave answered a question about his attitude toward his trans fans with the words, “I love all my fans.”
“What do you think of your transgender fans or of trans people in general?” was the specific question. “As a young trans woman, I’ve had both positive and negative experiences with other fans of your work when it comes to gender, and I’m curious as to where you stand on the subject,” the person continued.
Before Cave answered the question, however, he answered his Enneagram — a kind of personality test — and described his feelings toward his fans as a “strange fatherly instinct.”
The world as a “collective of individuals”
This was followed by his answer to the question about his trans fans: “I also have another impulse, which I hope will be more widespread, and that is to treat everyone with the same level of love and respect, no matter what skin color, what gender , what sexuality, what religion or anything else. At bottom, I see the world as a collective of individuals, all unique in their brokenness, who share at their core a common and binding equality of spirit.”
“So Amelia,” the singer continued. “While I’m a little unsure of where I stand on these things, or rather why I should stand anywhere at all, I’ll still say this — I love my trans fans wholeheartedly and wish them the best, as do I all love my fans and wish them the best. I feel the same duty of care to them that I feel to all who exist within my reach. I also hope that they will have all the rights to which they are entitled and that they can lead a life of dignity and freedom, free from violence and prejudice. I desire these things as I desire all people.”
Cave continued: “As a musician, it is a true privilege to be on stage and see a multitude of disparate individuals lose themselves in the shared and inclusive vitality of the music; to watch people transcend themselves, united by the innate spiritual sameness buried under the condition of identity. It is very moving to see and fully understand that while we are all uniquely odd in our individual personalities, yet we are one under the dominion of a greater all-encompassing force. That is the gift and revelation of music.”