Nicole Talbot is a transgender girl – that means she was born a boy but expressed from a young age that she is a girl, and so she transitioned and now lives every day as the girl she has long known herself to be. Nicole and her mother Jeanne have spent countless hours speaking with lawmakers about the importance of nondiscrimination protections for her daughter and other LGBTQ people. Nicole and Jeanne played a big role in the historic Yes on 3 campaign in Massachusetts to uphold those protections two years after they’d gone into effect.

“I do my part to speak out and be the face of what this law is really about,” Nicole said about the Massachusetts transgender protections law. “I’ve appeared in video campaigns, spoken at press conferences, and conducted dozens of interviews. I’ve knocked on countless doors at the Massachusetts State House and sat face-to-face with our legislative leaders to share my story. But sometimes I wish I didn’t have to. I wish that I could just be a teenager. But being safe and protected by the law is directly linked to my future and pursuing my dreams — right now and for years to come. And it’s worth fighting for. Being transgender is just one part of who I am. It shouldn’t determine whether I continue to have basic protections in the state I call home.”

Photos by TDM Photography and Georgia Glennon