Two years ago, Nico Lang saw a need. Amid rampant transphobia and legislation targeting trans youth, trans kids and their families needed a book to see themselves represented as vulnerable, joyful, and human. Thus came, “American Teenager: How Trans Kids are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era.” Lang’s new release gives readers a window into the lives of Wyatt, Rhydian, Mykah, Clint, Ruby, Augie, Jack, and Kylie, eight trans teens from across the country, all with vastly different stories but one distinct thing in common: they’re all just kids, looking toward a brighter future.
Lang will be coming to Atlanta on October 19 for a Q&A and reading of “American Teenager” at Charis Books and More at 2pm. Ahead of the event, Lang sat down with Georgia Voice to discuss the book, the emotional weight these kids have to bear, and mobilizing toward a better world for them.
Quotes have been edited for clarity.
Take me back to that moment you realized you had to write this book in 2022: what was going on? Why did you feel this book was necessary?
In 2021, there was a bill that was put forward in Texas that would have labeled parents of trans youth as child abusers if they allowed their kids to transition, even socially. I had naively assumed that we could just educate people right, that people just need the right information. But I recognized that there was something else going on, that we lost any sense of good faith during the discussion. If we are starting from a place that parents of trans youth are child abusers if they just affirm their kids and if they love their kids for who they are, there is no good faith there. There’s nothing that we can build upon in order to have a conversation. With this book, it’s about not only reinstalling that good faith in this discussion, but humanizing trans kids and their families. Trans kids are human. They’re kids just like everybody else, and they deserve rights the same as all other children.
It’s clear while reading it that this book represents the connection between the personal and the political. Can you talk about that connection and how important the power of humanization is in the face of misinformation and transphobic rhetoric?
When I was in Texas with Ruby, who is one of the subjects from the book, she had mentioned that when she testified to her legislature against a trans sports ban there, that they didn’t even listen to her. The lawmakers would be on their phones or on their computers or staring at the ceiling or looking at the floor — they did anything they could to avoid just looking her in the eye and recognizing her humanity. You see that again and again and again. When I was in West Virginia with Mycah, another one of the subjects from the book, they went to the legislature for a hearing to support trans kids who were speaking out against anti-trans legislation there, and a lot of the lawmakers didn’t even show up that day. Their desks were totally empty. They do that on purpose. They do that to avoid recognizing these kids as people, as their constituents, who deserve protections like any other constituents in their district. By ignoring these kids and erasing them and pretending that they don’t exist, it justifies all manner of harm against them.
These are kids who have school, they have commitments that they’re juggling, they want to go to the prom, they want to just hang out with their friends. They shouldn’t have to be dealing with all this. What 15- or 16-year-old has the resources to mobilize a statewide movement to protect themselves? You see how hard this is for the kids in this book. You see how much they go through, or how much more they go through because of the ways in which their home lawmakers are discriminating against them.
It’s obviously highly emotional to come to grips with how these kids are being treated. What was the emotional process for you like, with living in proximity with these kids and witnessing that firsthand?
Really hard. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I was really thrown into the deep end here with these kids who have experienced really, really extreme, unfathomable trauma, and it was really hard to negotiate that with them, because I’m not anyone’s therapist, but you kind of end up being people’s therapist because they’re working through these things with you that they’ve never really talked about in depth with anybody. Writing this book was very, very, very hard on my mental health. When I was done with this book, I’d been feeling really horrible and anxious. I went to the doctor, and my blood pressure was 160 over 100, it was very high. It shows you just how much of a toll this takes on you.
I don’t think I’ll ever be quite the same person as I was before. This experience has just really changed me — in ways that aren’t so great, but also in ways that are really great. I have these communities all across the country now. I have these families that I’m going to know for the rest of my life who feel like families to me. It was a struggle to write this book, but it was also such a gift.
I think that definitely translates in the book, it’s a very special relationship between you and these kids. How did you choose which people you wanted to include in the book?
Obviously, the voices in the book are really diverse, and that was important to me, because I wanted to continue just expanding representation, and I wanted to give people a platform who I just don’t feel like have had enough of one. When we tell many different kinds of stories, it’s just more interesting. Telling the same story over and over again would have just gotten really boring. Like, what would be the point?
I needed folks who I felt like trusted me right away, and that I trusted them, because from there, we could go to somewhere that was really special. I wanted this book to just feel like so much more than these trans kids have ever been given in terms of representation. I really wanted to give them the chance to feel truly seen and truly heard and to feel like all parts of themselves were represented.
What can people expect from your event at Charis on October 19?
Rachel Garbus Benítez from Wussy is going to host a little discussion with me; we’re going to talk about the book for about 45 minutes. I’ll probably read a little bit from it, then we’ll open up to audience questions on what interests them about the project and about the book, or if they’ve already read it, the thoughts that they had while learning about these kids’ stories. I’ve only done one event so far, that was at the Baltimore Book Fair, and it was really lovely. To see how supportive people were and how much it meant to them, that was really gratifying. The fact that people are really responding to it, it just feels like the fulfillment of every fantasy I’ve ever had. It’s just like living in a dream, and I hope that dream continues and doesn’t become a nightmare. I think it really depends on if somebody gets J.K. Rowling a copy of this book — my whole life could be ruined, but for now, I’m just really grateful.
Is there anything you’d like to add that we didn’t cover?
My publisher originally pushed to release the book in June. I didn’t see this as just being a Pride Month book. To me, it’s more important that it’s an election book, because if people pick up this book and they care about what happens to these kids, then they should vote like it. In just over a month, we will decide whether the next President of the United States will be the first Black woman ever elected to the White House or a megalomaniac who has made it very clear that he intends to repeal all manner of trans rights if elected to the White House, that includes protections for trans kids. I just want to vote for a safer country for these kids.
“American Teenager: How Trans Kids are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era” is available for purchase from Charis Books and More in-person and online. Learn more about the “American Teenager” event on October 19 here.