Tag Archives: Interrupted

‘Youth, Interrupted’ Goes Behind the Scenes with Trans Teens

Transgender teens today face something that no generation of transgender people has ever faced before them: Visibility.

Of course, transphobia is still an enormous problem, transgender women are being killed at horrifying rates, transgender teens face discrimination and homelessness, and more and more schools are passing laws against transgender students. I am not overlooking that at all.

But transgender Broadly writer Diana Tourjee says,

This generation is the first generation of trans youth who are coming of age during a time of liberation for transgender people.”

In order to bring more visibility to and understanding of transgender people, Tourjee is hosting a miniseries called Youth, Interrupted, about the challenges and triumphs of being a transgender teen today.

She wants to focus on teenagers because, while the LGBT community has much to learn from its elders, she believes that teenagers growing up in the age of transgender liberation are the real leaders.

People should look to them for understanding, rather than rely on outdated preconceptions about what gender means or how the world is supposedly supposed to look.”

While the series touches on legislation and legal battles, such as the infamous “bathroom bills” that are popping up around the country, she does not want to focus on the legal battles. Instead, she’d like to shift the focus to the lived experiences of the transgender teenagers affected by this bill and the discrimination that they face.

The first installment of the series focuses on Trinity Neal, Vinnie Holt and Gavin Grimm. You probably know Gavin from the highly publicized case that was headed for the Supreme Court – whether he wanted to or not, he became the face of the bathroom bill debate. The case was headed to the Supreme Court until Trump struck down Obama-era protections of transgender students’ bathroom rights.

Tourjee says,

This series attempts to capture real American stories, to show the human beings behind and overly politicized debate.”

This series asks the question: What is it like to survive when your very existence is illegal?