‘Becoming Nicole’: New book tells transgender child’s story

By: 9 years ago

In this summer 2015 photo released by Random House, twins Jonas, left, and Nicole Maines, right, pose with their parents Kelly, second from left, and Wayne Maines, second from right at Crescent Beach State Park in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. On Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015, the book “Becoming Nicole,” by Pulitzer Prize winner Amy Ellis Nutt, is set to be released which tells the story of the difficulties the Maines family faced when one of the twin boys identified as a girl at a young age and eventually became Nicole, a transgender girl. AP

Transgender Girl Book — In this summer 2015 photo released by Random House, twins Jonas, left, and Nicole Maines, right, pose with their parents Kelly, second from left, and Wayne Maines, second from right at Crescent Beach State Park in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. On Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015, the book “Becoming Nicole,” by Pulitzer Prize winner Amy Ellis Nutt, is set to be released which tells the story of the difficulties the Maines family faced when one of the twin boys identified as a girl at a young age and eventually became Nicole, a transgender girl. AP

PORTLAND, Maine — A family that sued a school district over bathroom access for a transgender daughter is telling its story.

In “Becoming Nicole,” Pulitzer Prize winner Amy Ellis Nutt writes about a family thrust into the national spotlight with a battle over bathrooms and bullying in an elementary school in Maine. The state supreme court ultimately ruled that transgender students should be allowed to use the bathroom of their choosing.

Now an 18-year-old, Nicole Maines is a freshman at the University of Maine.

She says the family hopes to help others by telling its story, including the battle over bathrooms and bullying that led to the landmark ruling. She says there were difficult times but she’s happy that there’s now a court ruling that prevents others from enduring what she went through.

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