Finding Joy / Surviving Hate

Brookline Allies present FINDING JOY / SURVIVING HATE: a book panel and LGBTQ+ Resource Fair, featuring author Nico Lang (American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era) with Roland Hayes School Principal Asa Sevelius and members of the Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth Speakers' Bureau.

An RSVP is required for entrance.

1PM - Doors open for LGBTQ+ Resource Fair

Confirmed for the resource fair so far:

The Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth (BAGLY)

Brookline Public Schools LGBTQ+ Task Force

Boston LGBTQ Museum of Art, History, and Culture

ACLU

Brookline Booksmith

Breaktime

Brookline Allies

Congregation Dorshei Tzedek

The History Project: Documenting LGBTQ+ Boston

2PM - conversation | audience Q&A | book signing - Copies of American Teenager will be available for purchase at the event.

• First Parish offers street parking and two small lots
• Approximate 5-10 minute walk from the 60 bus
• Approximate 10-15 minute walk from Brookline Hills stop on Green Line D Train
• This space is wheelchair accessible - enter the event via the sanctuary
• If you require wheelchair seating or other accommodations, please email [email protected] at least 24 hours in advance so we can do our best to serve your needs
• For ASL interpretation, please allow us at least two weeks' notice to improve our chances of securing an interpreter
• This is a mask-friendly space, but masking is not required

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 L.A. 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 cofounder of the literary journal In Our Words. Their industry-leading contributions to queer media have resulted in a GLAAD Media Award and 10 awards from the National Association of LGBTQ Journalists (NLGJA). 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.

American Teenager

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 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.

Asa Sevelius, Ed.D., is the principal of the Roland Hayes School in Brookline, Massachusetts. He is an LGBTQ+ activist and recognized leader in the fight for safe public schools for all.

As an educator, Dr. Sevelius has a clear commitment to issues of social justice, closing opportunity gaps, high-quality early childhood education, and fair assessment and evaluation practices. School culture and professional development are particular passions of his.

This event is presented in partnership with BAGLY, the Public Schools of Brookline LGBTQ+ Task Force, First Parish in Brookline, the Boston LGBTQ+ Museum of Art, History & Culture, and Brookline Booksmith.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

First Parish in Brookline, 382 Walnut Street, Brookline, United States