American Teenager Quotes

“Being transgender doesn't have to define you or be the most important part of your life. It can be just one small aspect of the messiness that makes you human.”
― Nico Lang, American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era

“Obsessing over [Clint's own] gender would make him dysphoric, sacrificing the many labors it took to reach this dreamlike idyll where he can just be.”
― Nico Lang, American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era

“A lot of people in the community really advocate for people being out, owning who they are, and spreading awareness. If I was out all the time, I would feel more dysphoric than if I'm just able to live my life as a guy and not have to worry. I don't think it's a selfish thing to want to live a life that would make you happier. The whole reason I transitioned was so that I could be happier. In the end, it's everyone's own life. You've got to live it the way you want.”
― Nico Lang, American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era

“Ruby’s delicately applied makeup and the careful softness in her voice is protection from a state that never wanted her to be authentically alive, that would rather see her dead than live her own truth.”
― Nico Lang, American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era

“Ruby says the joy I hear is not just the terms of her survival but an act of protest.”
― Nico Lang, American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era

“I don’t think I changed minds, but I hope I planted a seed.”
― Nico Lang, American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era

“I could have been doing kids’ stuff—like going to parties—but instead I was staying home feeling sick about what my future might be.”
― Nico Lang, American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era

“Because he’s been forced to grow up so fast—by a political apparatus that stripped him of the luxuries of innocence—he has a difficult time comprehending the banal preoccupations of most adolescents, feeling as if no one can really fathom all he’s gone through at such a young age. He spends many days at the base of a bottomless well of loneliness, staring at his own reflection in its solitary waters. Adults tell him that he’s “very mature” or that he’s an “old soul,” but Wyatt insists that he never had a choice in the matter. “I feel like my teen years have been stolen,” he says. “Even if I have good memories, it’s always like, Oh, this is the year the bathroom bill was introduced, not This is the year I went to Disney with my family. I wish being trans wasn’t my whole life—because it’s really not—but it does affect a lot of my life.” For as much as Wyatt resents the confines of ballet, the shame of being corrected by a teacher every time he dares to express his individuality as an artist, partaking in his Monday night men’s class is among the few times he can remember feeling true joy in South Dakota; there, dancers are allowed to bend the rules with lessened reproach.”
― Nico Lang, American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era

“This book is an attempt to understand the ongoing toll of a battle for basic equality, and to survey the damage being done to innocent kids who never asked to be public enemy number one. It also aims to tell a more authentic, nuanced story of the lives transgender youth are leading during historically challenging times.”
― Nico Lang, American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era