A transgender student from Portland was one of 11 individuals featured in an HBO documentary that aired Monday night.
In the documentary, “The Trans List,” Nicole Maines and other transgender Americans share their insights on transgender rights, the fight for equality and their own personal struggles.
Maines is currently a student at the University of Maine in Orono. She was born a boy, has an identical twin brother, and began identifying as a girl at the age of 2. Her family’s battle with her elementary school – the Asa Adams School in Orono – over her right to use a girls’ bathroom led to a landmark court ruling in Maine.
In the 2014 decision, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled 5-1 that the Orono school district violated her rights when it made her use a unisex, faculty bathroom instead of the girls’ restroom.
Maines told the National Public Radio show “Fresh Air” on Monday that she felt like she was being punished. The school eventually hired a bodyguard to follow her to make sure that she used the staff bathroom.
“It was annoying. I would get up to go to class to just go to the bathroom and my teacher would have to stop me in front of everybody and tell me to wait for whoever was following me that day,” Maines told NPR. “It was really, really humiliating, so it felt really good to know that my parents recognized what was happening and knew that it was wrong.”
Her parents are Kelly and Wayne Maines of Portland. The struggle of Maines and her family was explored in a book, “Becoming Nicole,” that was published in October 2015.
Also featured in the HBO documentary, which was directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, are several well known transgender individuals, including Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner; Buck Angel, an American adult film producer; and Kylar Broadus, a transgender rights attorney.
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