A book released in October follows eight transgender, nonbinary, and genderfluid teenagers as they navigate life in the wake of anti-trans laws and policies across the country.
Nico Lang, a journalist and author of "American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era” is based in Los Angeles but spent 2½ weeks each with eight kids in seven states — including Florida.
More than 600 bills were introduced nationally in 2024 to ban gender-affirming care for kids, restrict that care for adults, ban access to bathrooms that match a person’s gender identity, keep trans students from competing in sports — and more.
And Lang says the impacts are far-reaching.
Why Lang says this book is needed
“If you want to know what's going to happen to trans kids in Kansas or Oklahoma or Idaho, look to Florida, because all of those lawmakers are absolutely paying attention, and they're parroting what Florida does,” Lang said.
“For every kid in this book, for Augie’s story, for Jack's story, there are going to be dozens of untold stories of kids across the country who are experiencing the exact same thing, who are also having their health care taken away, who are struggling for their place in the world … who are unsure if the world has anything to offer them.”
“We sometimes treat these kids as if they're not human, as if they lead a completely different life than the rest of us, one that we could never relate to, or see ourselves in. And for the reader, I really wanted to remind you that these kids are just like you in so many ways.”Nico Lang
Lang’s narrative style, rife with the sort of “get the dog’s name” details journalists learn in basic reporting classes but rarely implement, brings you into the scantily furnished apartment of Pensacola teens and siblings Jack and Augie as they navigate their life after months of homelessness, the fallout from their mothers’ domestic abuse, and life in a state that forced Jack, a trans girl, to temporarily detransition thanks to gender-affirming care restrictions on Medicaid coverage that impact those 18 and older, too.
“So she had to watch this body that she had fought so hard for slip away from her. She had to watch the person that she recognized as herself in the mirror just slowly go away, and there was nothing she could do about that,” Lang said.
“And I think that lack of control not only sort of traumatized her in the moment, but like it's an ongoing trauma that she's going to live with for a really, really long time.”
Observation vs. phone interviews
Lang said their decision to spend weeks with each teenager gave their stories more nuance and richness than most news articles about trans kids are able to.
“There has been quite a bit written on trans kids, but I think to keep these kids safe, often it's parents speaking for their kids, or there's a written statement from the kid that's just like, ‘here's what little Ricky said.’ Or you just don't really get that kind of access at all,” Lang said.
ALSO READ: How this queer wedding expo in St. Petersburg affirms LGBTQ+ couples
They said stories are being written about these kids’ lives, but not really from their perspective, “not like walking along with them as they like go to class or go to a football game or go to the movie theaters or like hang out.”
Lang said really getting to know these kids — their fears, their dreams, their favorite horror movies, the way they interact with and tease their siblings — is the best way to breed empathy.
The importance of ‘in between’ moments
Lang said queer storytellers, and journalists in general, are often forced into a binary of joy or of trauma, where you have to write about either the worst thing that's ever happened to somebody or the best.
But that’s not real life.
“So much of this book exists in the in-between spaces where either somebody's having a relatively mundane day that's neither happy and joyful, nor very sad and traumatic,” Lang said. “It's just somewhere in between, or they're experiencing joy and trauma at the same time.”
Ultimately, they said, it boils down to shared human experience.
“We sometimes treat these kids as if they're not human, as if they lead a completely different life than the rest of us, one that we could never relate to, or see ourselves in. And for the reader, I really wanted to remind you that these kids are just like you in so many ways.”
Nico Lang is a nonbinary, award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in major publications, including Rolling Stone, Esquire, The New York Times, Vox, The Wall Street Journal, Salon, Harper’s Bazaar, Time, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. Lang is the creator of Queer News Daily and previously served as the deputy editor for Out magazine, the news editor for Them, and the LGBTQ+ correspondent for VICE.
