In January of this year, Veronica Takenaka's home state of Utah passed the nation’s first ban on gender-affirming care for trans teenagers, SB 16. The 16-year-old was a few months into the health insurance approval process to start taking hormone blockers herself. She was so close to a major step in her transition, but would she still be able to move forward?
Veronica had had enough. Quietly, she started organizing friends and fellow students for a school walkout. When the day came, she held her breath and left class. And as she walked, head held high, she was relieved to see hundreds of fellow students were joining her.
About a month later, Veronica got her first hormone blocker shot, coincidentally on her 17th birthday. Since she had started the approval process before SB 16 was signed into law, she was allowed to go forward with the now-banned treatment. But some of her friends weren’t as lucky.
Veronica’s activism blossomed outside of school too. She made appearances on local radio shows, interned at the Utah Pride Center, and even helped organize a queer prom.
The Utah ACLU’s Aaron Welcher tells Teen Vogue that he was “blown away” by her work from the moment they met. “She really had a deep understanding of that it's [about] more than just herself,” he says. “I think that really showed how deeply she understands these issues, not just as part of her identity, but also as part of systemic justice that needs to happen.”
Now, after the summer lull, Veronica is preparing to return to school for her senior year — with new plans to protest anti-LGBTQ+ legislation for herself and her trans and nonbinary friends. We speak on Zoom about what comes next.
This conversation has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Teen Vogue: To whatever extent you feel comfortable, can you tell me a little about your journey and realizing you're trans?
Veronica Takenaka: Personally, I've always led a very queer lifestyle. I originally came out at two as gender creative, so I still identified as male, I just dressed more femininely. I came out again at nine as gay, and then at 15 as trans.
I'm lucky to be in a very accepting family, coming from a Buddhist background, so it wasn't a very hard transition. But I mean, with any sort of coming out story, it's always awkward and there's always bumps in the road.
For me, I was very lucky to have a more accepting community and an ecosystem, or an environment, where I could be accepted for who I was, being able to express myself more freely.
TV: That's awesome! Have you always lived in Utah?
VT: Yeah.
TV: What is your relationship to the state?
VT: I feel like I have a very complicated relationship. I mean, it's kind of a weird place because Salt Lake City is the [Mormon] capital of the world, but it's also simultaneously an LGBTQ+ hot spot. So it's kind of always been a clashing thing of the two communities and their beliefs.
TV: Has that changed within the past year or two, as new anti-LGBTQ+ laws have been passed? How do you see that progressing over time?
VT: I feel like growing up, there was a lot of progress, you know what I mean? As I was growing up, [being queer] was becoming more and more kind of normal. But I think the progress just started to flip over. I mean, high school is always an awkward time, but it was just another punch to the face: “Hey, your government isn't willing to be there for you.”
I don't think [the government] realizes that it has now put kids in even more of a worse spot. I remember Governor Cox's main statement about the bill was that this is for kids who are going to regret this in the future. But I feel like that isn't something that you should be worrying about.…This is the time when you need to step up and you need to realize that these kids are looking for some way to feel accepted and to feel comfortable with themselves and their community.
TV: Would you tell me about your activism and how you chose to become a more public advocate?
VT: I've [always] tried my best to be a part of the community and to use my voice. This is kind of a funny example, but when I was in elementary school, the principal changed the schedule so that recess was only 15 minutes rather than 20 minutes. So me and my friends started to make this whole thing — we wanted to speak to the principal. [Finally] he was like, “Okay.” I think that was my first real example of any kind of activism, in a funny way.
In recent years, I've kind of started to use my voice to speak more for the trans community, for the LGBTQ+ community, for the Asian community — trying to use my voice and my platform to speak my mind as someone who's part of those communities.
TV: Can you tell me more about the walkouts?
VT: The walkouts are student-led. I tried to help run the things, so I was scheduling what day we were supposed to do it, who we wanted to speak, reaching out to people if they were interested in speaking or doing something to help us create this space. I also spoke at [a] protest.
TV: Why are walkouts important? It's not just kids leaving class because they want to play hooky, right?
VT: They are for students and for these people who usually are kind of shut down because they're younger or they don't have a place to speak their mind. It's the one time, in schools, for them to be able to speak their minds and for people to understand them, for people to have the ability to hear their stories and hear them for who they are and what they go through on a day-to-day basis. I think that's why walkouts are so important. They're not just students skipping class; these are students who are willing to use their voice and speak for what they believe in.
TV: Do you remember what class you were in when the first walkout started?
VT: The walkout started in the transition time from my first period to my second period. I just remember walking down to the main floor and seeing so many people walking to the front. It was a really brightening experience to be like, There are so many people here!
I feel like as a queer person, you kind of have to expect the worst, you have to expect that there's always going to be something wrong. But it was kind of the first time in my high school experience where I was like, There are people here who are willing to stand up for us and who are willing to use their voice and advocate for our community.
TV: What are your thoughts on going back to school this fall?
VT: I'm kind of scared for it since it's my senior year. It's my last true year of freedom, basically. I'm trying to keep that in mind, but also just thinking about what I can do to make sure it's the best year for me, so that way I can represent my community.
TV: Are you planning anything in terms of activism for the fall?
VT: There are a lot of things I want to do, like going up to the Capitol on a field trip and talking to legislators, letting them actually speak to trans youth voices and trying to get a different perspective from them. And I'm sure that if there's another anti-trans bill or anti-LGBTQ law, we will be there to fight and show our voices through walkouts, protests, that sort of thing.
The main reason we're here is to express our joy and to show people who are trying to tear us down and tell us we aren't valid that we are here, we are valid. We are going to stay here and we're going to exist whether you like it or not. We're going to have these allies, we're going to have these people who are willing to support us. That's just something you're going to have to get used to.
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