Meet the Author and Panel Discussion
Sunday, Dec. 8
12:30-2 p.m., Sumners Hall
You are invited to a special community gathering with author Nico Lang and Episcopal lay leader Molly Wills Carnes. We will discuss Lang's new book, American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era, and explore ways people of faith can better support trans youth and their families. Light lunch will be available.
MOLLY WILLS CARNES
Molly Wills Carnes is a lay evangelist, LGBTQ+ advocate, and a member of St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Cypress, Texas. Her ministry is marked by a deep empathy for those wounded by their church experience. Molly regularly testifies before the Texas State Legislature in defense of LGBTQ+ equality and has appeared on CBS, NPR, and MSNBC. As a "spiritual bartender" who carries many stories, Molly believes our individual and collective stories are the key to Gospel transformation in the world. She is also the parent of an amazing transgender daughter.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Media coverage tends to sensationalize the fight over how trans kids should be allowed to live, but what is incredibly rare are the voices of the people at the heart of this debate: transgender and gender nonconforming kids themselves. For their groundbreaking new book, journalist Nico Lang spent a year traveling the country to document the lives of transgender, nonbinary, and genderfluid teens and their families. Drawing on hundreds of
hours of on-the-ground interviews with them and the people in their communities, American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era (Abrams Press; October 8, 2024; U.S. $30.00; Hardcover) paints a vivid portrait of what it’s actually like to grow up trans today. From the tip of Florida’s conservative panhandle to vibrant queer communities in California, and from Texas churches to mosques in Illinois, American Teenager gives readers a window into the lives of Wyatt, Rhydian, Mykah, Clint, Ruby, Augie, Jack, and Kylie, eight teens who, despite what some lawmakers might want us to believe, are truly just kids looking for a brighter future.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nico Lang (they/them) is a nonbinary award-winning journalist with over a decade of experience covering the transgender community’s fight for equality. Their 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, the LGBTQ+ correspondent for VICE, and the editor and co-founder of the literary journal In Our Words. Their industry-leading contributions to queer media have resulted in a GLAAD Media Award, ten awards from the National Association of LGBTQ Journalists (NLGJA), and three awards from the Los Angeles Press Club, including the 2023 Online Journalist of the Year. Lang is also the first-ever recipient of the Visibility Award from the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF), an honor created to recognize their impactful contributions to reporting on the lives of LGBTQ+ people.
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