Show notes
Season 1, Episode 27: Nov. 25, 2025 34 min, 38 sec.
What’s inside The Big Picture
This Friendsgiving edition of The Big Picture brings together author and journalist Nico Lang, whose book American Teenager follows transgender youth and their families, and Keya Rolston, OEP Change Leader and PFLAG organizer in Prineville—“Prideville” for the weekend. Nico shares stories like Jack and Auggie’s family in Florida, where domestic violence, homelessness, and loss of Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care layered trauma on top of survival—and how telling their story became a space for processing, not just reporting. The conversation looks at how, especially in so-called “red states,” safety often comes from local communities of care: affirming schools, clinics, libraries, and neighbors who say, “You’re okay. We’ve got you.”
Keya brings those themes home to rural Oregon, talking about what it means to be the community in a small town and how ODHS staff, health partners, and librarians can form a trusted circle around LGBTQ+ youth. Together, Nico and Keya make the case for American Teenager as a must-read for ODHS staff—not just because it explains what trans and gender-diverse youth are facing, but because it shows them as full human beings navigating poverty, violence, joy, and big questions about the future. The episode closes with both guests reflecting on what “home” means, and how building a world where trans kids can grow up safe, supported, and free brings all of us closer to the kind of community we want to be.
And in our Celebrity-SA: There’s No Better Way, than the Janeway (19:55)
Credits: Hosts: Dr. Bethany Grace Howe — Communications Shenika — Community Partnership Coordinator, District 10
Produced by Dr. Bethany Grace Howe
ContactQuestions / feedback: bethany.g.howe@odhs.oregon.gov
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
