NICOLE MAINES

It seems only fitting that we have a trans superhero for trans kids to look up to. I wish there was a trans superhero when I was little.

I think accurately presenting a trans character means not presenting them as perfect - I think there's been a pressure to do this with trans characters. They can have no flaws because they must represent the entire trans community.

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.

Cisgender actors don't take trans roles out of malice. I think it's just failure to realize the context behind having cisgender people play transgender characters because we don't see the same issue with sexuality.

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.

I think everything's going to turn out pretty well for me.

With trans folks, we have a lot of people accusing us of just playing dress up for whatever reasons, and that's just not true.

Everybody loves superheroes, and so to be associated with a superhero forever is just kind of like, that's where the goalposts are. That's kind of, 'Bam, you're immortalized!'

This entire issue of transgender people posing a kind of threat to cisgender women in bathrooms is made up. We are just like everybody else - we go into the bathroom, we keep our heads down, we don't look at anybody.

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

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.

I think, for all trans people, it's not our only defining feature, but it is a defining feature.

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.

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.

My family knew that they loved me, and whatever this 'I want to be a girl' business was, it certainly wasn't about to change that.

What I'm really excited for is to see the evolution of trans characters and see more diverse stories be told, so that every time we're on screen, we're not really playing the part of educator and having to explain the experience to the audience, because it will have already been normalized.

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.

I had been on puberty suppressants and hormone suppressants, so I did not go through male puberty.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.