Quotes from Nicole Maines

Because you never know when a transgender person is going to come into your life, you need to be prepared, and you need to be ready to help them.

The first thing that's really important to understand, just when approaching the topic of transgender people, is that the sex you're assigned with at birth is not the same as your gender identity.

I hope I can help convince people there that being transgender is not a big deal and that we are just average people trying to go to school, work, and live good lives.

We tried our best to work with the school and with the other families in the school system, and we did a gradual transition. I started transitioning when I was in first grade, and every year we kind of tacked a new thing on to it.

For a number of years at my public elementary school in rural Maine, I was treated like all the other girls in school. That changed in September 2007 when a male classmate, set on a path by his grandfather, followed me into the girls' restroom. The end result was that I had to use the school's staff bathroom - just me, no one else.

We didn't have anyone to tell us that what was going on with me was alright. There was no information about transgender people when we started our journey, but we managed to make it through because of the tremendous amount of love that our family had.

If I had a super power, I'd want to be able to fly just so I could float around my apartment. Or I'd really like telekinesis because then you'd be able to slam the door on somebody.

Children are a lot smarter than we give them credit for.

I think our society has sort of built this gender binary, and the way we've said it exists does not really exist in nature.

Acceptance at home is fundamental, yes, but frankly, it's just not enough. Trans youth, like most young people, spend the majority of their time at school. If you spent Monday to Friday from 8 to 3 being told that you weren't okay, that you were wrong, how are you meant to think otherwise?

More than anything, I want fans to take away an understanding of trans people that we can be anybody.

The most inspirational person in my life has been my mother.

My father grew up very conservative, and he really had set expectations for what boys and girls were supposed to be like. So when I came out to him, that did not fit into his plan of what raising twin boys was going to be like.

There are infinite combinations that people can experience, because no two people are alike, and no two people's identities should be expected to be alike. I mean, we see it in fashion: one size does not fit all. And I think it's, you know, completely ridiculous that we've expected people's identities to be one size fits all.

Gender is a spectrum, and that's something that a lot of folks don't understand.

I know from first-hand experience that separating transgender students from their peers can cause many to leave school, hide who they are, or even do the unthinkable.

Saying it now sounds obvious, but that can be really hard to remember when you're a trans kid who feels like your world's been turned upside down. Just having someone to see in the media is so empowering and validating.

When we have trans actors play trans characters, people can look onscreen and say, 'OK, this is what trans is.'

Having trans people play trans roles show that we are valid in our identities, and we exist.

I studied digital arts and graphic design, and then, at the same time I was studying, I was still doing auditions.

Growing up, I was from kind of Nowhere, Maine. And, so, now having thousands of people reaching out to me via social media and thousands of people paying attention to what I say, that's really weird.

Historically, we have seen cis men play trans women and vice versa. That casting breaks through the fourth wall, and it gives people the message that trans people are being played by cis men in real life, which is where we get this idea of men in dresses.

I would say my brother got lucky with me. Because we grew up with only boy neighbors, I developed a liking to shoot-'em-up and military video games. I could have come out a lot girlier.