Becoming nicole essay

In “Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family,” published this week by Random House and excerpted below, Washington Post science writer Amy Ellis Nutt explores the remarkable story of an ordinary family navigating its way through extraordinary times. Jonas and Nicole Maines are first-year students at the University of Maine.

Nicole and Jonas Maines graduated from high school in June, and Nicole underwent sex-reassignment surgery in July. They are both first-year students at the University of Maine.

The father would learn the truest meaning of family only after his wife felt forced to file a lawsuit against the twins’ elementary school, and when Jonas told him, at age 9, “Face it, Dad, you have a son and a daughter.” Nicole and Jonas, who grew up primarily in Maine, just turned 18.

Becoming Nicole. They were born identical twin boys, but one always felt he was a girl. They were identical twin boys, Wyatt and Jonas Maines, adopted at birth in 1997 by middle-class, conservative parents.