On Monday, July 27, 2026, the Bethesda United Church of Christ hosted journalist and author Nico Lang for a discussion of their bestselling book, American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era. Nico Lang spoke to a full audience of multi-generational siblings and the curious. I came curious. How are trans kids surviving hate and finding joy?
The author pointed out that most coverage of trans kids is from a policy viewpoint. Should we ban this book? Which bathroom can a trans kid use? Can they use their preferred name and pronouns? But never do we hear from the trans kids themselves.
Nico Lang presents like they/them is on steroids. Their rapid-fire delivery made me lean in to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I also came with a few fundamental questions. As a person of faith, my inquiring mind wanted to know: Did any of these trans kids lean on spiritual practices? Was joy found in religious spaces? Who were these trans kids?
One comment from Nico Lang that struck me. “I wish I didn’t have to interview these kids. I wish that I didn’t have to talk to them about surviving hate, but I did. And these kids became really dear to me.”
This week I spoke to Nico at they/them’s home in Los Angeles. In that conversation, many of my questions were answered. Who were these kids? Nico’s book represents three trans boys, three trans girls, 1 gender-fluid, and 1 non-binary. Two are half-white, four are white, and two are AAPI.
Their faith journeys were as varied as their lives: Catholic, Episcopal, Baptist, Evangelical, Muslim, but sometimes faith just didn’t come up. Nico wanted the conversations to feel organic, without the pressure of a question-and-answer format, so for one teenager, religion or faith never came up in their deeply intimate exchanges.
Faithful and Queer? An oxymoron? These proud and courageous young trans siblings embody this scripture: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…(ignored, despised, deemed less than human, but)…your works are wonderful, I know that full well (Psalm
139.14).
The Rev. Irene Monroe, Black lesbian activist and preacher, was abandoned after her birth and later was discovered in a trash can. Rev. Monroe went on to graduate from Wellesley College, Union Theological Seminary, and Columbia University and studied for her doctorate at Harvard University.
“God don’t make no junk.” God made these trans kids. They are God’s thrown-away children that are not waiting to be discovered. “We’re queer, we’re here, we’re not going anywhere.” We simply need to acknowledge that our trans siblings are already here; here in our spaces and places. In our schools, in our churches, in our institutions, in our communities.
You will not be able to put this book down. Nico Lang’s American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate And Finding Joy In A Turbulent Era is a long-awaited treasure. I hope that this book will be a widely read resource in churches, schools, and youth service organizations.
“Faithful and Queer” is a publication of the United Church of Christ Social Justice Media Ministry of the Potomac Association. Our blogger, The Rev. Dr. D. Amine B. Butts, is both faithful and queer and a UCC Media Justice Fellow.