CHICAGO, Ill., October 22, 2018— Nicole Maines, transgender actor and activist, will be honored with the Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) Chicago Visibility Award. The award will recognize Nicole's incredible fight to be herself, as well as her continued effort to raise awareness for others in the LGBTQ community, so every child that is perceived as different will have the same equal rights as their classmates.
"Nicole Maines has truly changed the world for so many LGBTQ people," said Penelope Garcia, co-chair of the 2018 HRC Chicago Gala. "We are incredibly proud to present this award to such an inspiring woman."
In 2014, Nicole won a State Supreme Court decision against the Orono school district in Maine, which ruled that the school district had violated the state's Human Rights Act. The case marked the very first time that a state's highest court ruled that a transgender person has the right to use the restroom of the gender with which they identify.
Nicole and her family have a NY Times best-selling book, "Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family" by Pulitzer Prize author Amy Ellis Nutt. Their book was named one of the 10 best books of the year by People, Men's Journal, and was a finalist for the LAMBDA Literary Award for Transgender Non-Fiction.
As a teenager, Nicole was named one of the Glamour Magazine's 50 inspiring women of the year. In 2012 Nicole and her brother Jonas were invited to the White House to celebrate their activism. Nicole won GLAAD Outstanding Individual Episode Media Award in 2015. She has guest starred opposite Mark Feuerstein in the comedy, Royal Pains for USA Network and, at age sixteen Nicole appeared in the documentary feature, The Trans List for HBO. She is currently starring in an independent horror film BIT that is filming in Los Angeles. Nicole is also playing journalist Nia Nal a new superhero on the CW's hit show Supergirl.
Nicole Maines will speak at the 2018 HRC Chicago Gala and Auction the evening of October 27, 2018. The night will begin with a VIP reception followed by the silent auction and main dinner event. The event has an array of speakers each year with past appearances from Governor Pat Quinn, Jim Obergefell, the named plaintiff in the U.S. Supreme Court case Obergefell, et al. v. Hodges, and Michael Sam, former NFL player. Tickets are on sale now at HRCChicago.org/gala.
—From a press release
About The Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.
