In accepting an award in Chicago on
Saturday, transgender activist Nicole Maines said that the Trump
administration had underestimated the transgender community.
Maines, 20, plays Nia Nal, also known
as Dreamer, a young transgender woman with the power to see the
future on The CW's Supergirl.
Before she took the role of
television's first transgender superhero, Maines was the plaintiff in
Doe v. Clenchy, which was decided by the Maine Supreme
Judicial Court in June 2013. The case marked the first time that a
state court ruled it unlawful to deny transgender students access to
the bathroom of their choice.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, on Saturday honored Maines
with its Visibility Award at the 2018 HRC Chicago Gala.
In accepting the award, Maines strongly
condemned a federal policy change reportedly under consideration by
the Trump administration which would define sex by a person's
genitalia at birth.
“When I read The New York Times
article I was afraid,” Maines
said. “I was afraid, because it made me realize how fragile
the progress we have made is. How easy it is for a hateful
administration to tear down all of our success.”
“But when I read the article I was
also furious, because of how fragile that hateful administration
thought we were. We cannot be erased by policy. We cannot be torn
down by rhetoric. We cannot be stopped because they wish that we
would.”
“When faced with adversity a person
enters fight or flight mode. The Trump administration assumed we
would choose flight and they were wrong. The LGBTQ community is one
of fighters. We have been here fighting for our rights and for
visibility long before Trump stepped into office and we will be here
long after he is gone,” she added to applause.
(Related: Trump
says he's “protecting our country” when asked about ending
transgender recognition.)