Journalist Nico Lang Wields the Power of Storytelling with ‘American Teenager’
Book highlights eight trans teens living in a hostile political era
Los Angeles-based writer Nico Lang is fiercely protective of the families they portray in their upcoming book “American Teenager,” and for good reason. As of the beginning of August, 624 bills have been proposed across 43 states that target transgender minors and their families, from bathroom restrictions to cutting patients off from gender-affirming hormone treatments. Among bills that have passed in recent years are new laws in Florida and Texas that hold parents criminally liable for seeking gender-affirming care for their children.
Lang, an award-winning journalist who has been reporting on the LGBTQ+ community for over a decade for publications like The New York Times, NPR, Queerty, them.us and many others, tells Pride Source that doing right by the eight teens and families they interviewed was the priority for the multi-year project. They've seen what happens when journalists misrepresent the kind of stories they have to tell — how it can put a child’s safety at risk when the internet does its thing. But they also feel strongly in the power of those stories to be agents for change.
The seven essays Lang wrote for “American Teenager” are the product of weeks spent with each of their subjects. They represent transgender, nonbinary and genderfluid kids from across the country, including deep red states like South Dakota, Texas and Florida and progressive communities in Illinois and California. Each story is unique, Lang says, just as every transgender person is unique. “They aren’t all activists; they aren’t all trans in the same ways,” they explain. “At the heart of it, they are just kids.”
This message is central to why Lang poured so much energy and thought into the project, and an almost equal amount of time editing the final product, a process that has taken months and involved dozens of editors, reviewers and sensitivity readers. “I know that might feel like a counterintuitive process for most authors, but for me, it felt really important that there wouldn’t be anything in this that would create a controversy that would take away from the message,” they say.
During a recent interview, Lang shared insights into his lengthy writing process and how their teenage subjects — Wyatt, Rhydian, Mykah, Clint, Ruby, Augie, Jack and Kylie — surprised them. “American Teenager” is set to publish on Oct. 8.
Why did you decide to write a book focused on transgender youth?
Partly because I knew I could, and I knew that nobody else would have the kind of access that I do. This access was built on years of trust with families in the trans community. Many families have gone underground and they won't do any media anymore just because they've been burned by journalists too many times. So I had a unique opportunity to get it right and tell a story few other people could tell because of the trust I’ve built in this community.
And I really wanted to give these kids a platform because their voices are often silenced or ignored. I knew that I had a responsibility to give kids back that platform because they really needed it. I really want to reconnect people to hope because I know I need it. I need hope right now, so I can imagine other people do, too.
What surprised you about your subjects?
It reminded me that we sometimes treat young trans people like these wise activists who are knowledgeable and wise — I think people talk about them sometimes as if they're saints or something. But hanging out with these kids for weeks at a time reminded me that they're just kids.
Trans kids aren't different than any other kinds of kids. They're dealing with a lot of the same stuff and they're dealing with it in a similar way to lots of different teenagers. It's just we sometimes treat them as if it's so different. But if I were also dealing with anti-trans legislation on top of that, I don’t know how I would have done it. I don't know how I would be a 16-year-old kid dealing with feelings about boys. And then also trying to take on Republican lawmakers at the same time.
How did you approach the writing and editing process?
The writing was intense, but the editing has been even more so. It’s been a community-editing process involving 30 or 40 people who saw early drafts of it and gave us feedback, sensitivity readers, my friends and other editors. I wanted it to feel as representative of the community as possible. For the most part, unless it was something I was really feeling strongly about or I just flatly thought that they were wrong, I deferred to the community of editors and readers.
Each family had to kind of sign off on their chapters. I didn't want to represent people in a way that didn't feel affirming. I was editing this book until they told me I couldn't anymore.
Why did you choose to release the book in October?
A nice bit of timing is that October is LGBTQ History Month, and it is so close to the election. While not being overtly about the election — I tried not to talk too much about presidential politics — I do feel like it's so inextricably tied to the election because the rights of these kids are on the ballot.
If this book moves you on and you feel like you fall in love with these kids and their experiences resonate with you, remember that, because you have a job to do a month later. The book is our little “October surprise.” I wanted to go as deep as possible. I wanted them to feel really real to people — these subjects might feel like the reader's friend or maybe their own son. If somebody's your friend or your own son, you want to protect them. You want to do whatever it is to make sure that their rights aren't taken away and that they're not treated badly by politicians. If people really care about these kids and they care about what happens to them, they need to vote in accordance with that.
What impact do you hope this book will have on readers?
I want this to be a celebration for the trans community. I hope it inspires people and that it gives them hope again because I think that we all really need hope right now. When Obama ran in 2008, he ran on that message of hope and that just feels so distant now. It feels like a million years away since anyone was really talking about hope, and I think I just want to remind people that it's still there and we can just find it in each other.
I hope that people look at this book and they say, “I did need this” and it makes some sort of difference to them. I hope they're touched by it or moved by it or it does make a difference in people's lives.
It’s meant to be beautiful and celebratory and affirming. These kids have so much in their lives that is negative and isn’t joyful and which really dims their light — this book should be the opposite of that. I hope the community feels like this is a credit to them and a celebration of them.
Correction: A previous version of this story used the incorrect pronoun for Nico Lang. Lang's correct pronouns are they/them.
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