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.)