AUSTIN, Texas -- Kelly Kline is a proud transgender woman, but she admits her journey to get to where she is today hasn't been easy.

What You Need To Know


  • Kelly Kline, a transgender woman, faced rejection and abuse 

  • Attempted suicide after relocating to Austin

  • Was inspired by Lynda Carter in the 1970s TV version of Wonder Woman

  • Has since rekindled relationship with family 

"I was born in Mexico City and raised in Brownsville, Texas," Kline said. "We moved when I was 5 years old."

Kline says it was at that young age when she first realized she was different.

"I was also part of a very Catholic family and not only Catholic but very machismo thinking, you know, boys are this way, girls are this way, and there is absolutely no in between," she said. "So growing up was very hard for me."

Throughout school, Kline says she was physically and verbally assaulted by her classmates - even her teachers bullied her at times.

"When I first came out to my best friend at the time, I came out to her and her mother, and it happened to be in a church because I felt maybe a church would be the safest place," she shared. "They both beat me up and told me that God would never love someone like me and that people like me don't deserve to ever find love and we will never find love because we are broken. It plants a seed in your head, so part of my struggle my whole life has been 'does God love me? Does God not love me?'"

When she first came out to her family in the 1980s, Kline says her family had a difficult time accepting the news, but she says she understands their struggle, noting things were different during that time, and there weren't a lot of resources available to both the transgender community and their families.

Kline decided to leave the Rio Grande Valley and move to Austin to separate herself from her family while she went through her transition, but she had a hard time adjusting.

"When I first moved to Austin I was so depressed. I moved here and my family and I were not actually talking, so I just assumed that all of it was my fault," said Kline. "So I tried committing suicide, and when I was waking up in the hospital, 'Wonder Woman' was playing."

To this day, Kline remembers the exact scene playing on the hospital room television, and that moment has stuck with her since.

She recalls that profound moment with tears in her eyes.

"On the TV, the scene of the TV show was Lynda Carter - or Wonder Woman's mom - telling her, 'in a world of mere mortals, you are a wonder woman.' I can't explain it but that message did something to me, that message told me I was here for a reason and that message told me I had to be a wonder woman for other people," said Kline.

From then on, Kline said she found the strength to keep fighting and stay alive while also being a beacon of hope to others in the LGBTQ+ community.

"I know what it's like to feel like you're a waste of space, I know what it's like to feel like the worst mistake that's ever lived," she said. "But seeing that told me I had a purpose, and my purpose was to stand up for people who went through things like I did, so ever since then my Wonder Woman of Drag persona was born."

Kline spent more than 30 years in the drag scene, known as "The Wonder Woman of Drag." She even had the chance to meet her idol, Lynda Carter, twice. 

"The first time all I could do was cry. Years later, I met her again and she actually spent a little time talking to me," said Kline.

Kline has traveled all around Texas as an emcee for countless drag shows, but she is also a proud advocate for LGBTQ rights, spending time rallying at the state capitol and meeting with legislators in an effort to fight for equality.

She's since taken a step back from the drag world and now works for Vivent Health - formerly AIDS Services of Austin - but she still carries the same resilience and strength of her "Wonder Woman of Drag" persona in her everyday life. 

"Gosh, it's unreal the strength you have to muster every day to walk out your door and say, you know, somebody is gonna look at me and they're gonna realize that I wasn't born this way and they're gonna whisper and they're gonna look and somebody might even say something," Kline said. "It's gonna take every bit of courage for me to ignore it, but it's been the best lesson of my life that I've ever learned to be okay with who I am, and to realize if someone doesn't like me that's their problem, not mine."

Kelly Kline appears in her "Wonder Woman of Drag" outfit. (Courtesy: Kelly Kline)

After more than a decade, Kline has reestablished ties with her family, and says she is grateful and blessed that her family is able to love and accept her for who she is. 

"Growing up, I knew I wanted to be somebody different or I felt something different in my heart. I just never saw it as an attainable thing, but now I'm living my truth," said Kline.

Now, Kline encourages anyone who is struggling to live his or her truth to find his or her own role model, whether it's Wonder Woman or someone else who makes that person realize she or he is strong, powerful, and loved.