Jennifer Finney Boylan

Jennifer Finney Boylan (born June 22, 1958)^[1] is an American author, transgender activist and reality television personality who is a professor at Barnard College^[2] and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She appeared on I Am Cait, a 2015–2016 spin-off of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, starring her friend Caitlyn Jenner. On NPR's^[3] news quiz program "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!",^[4] Boylan achieved a perfect score when tested about Hot Dogs.^[5][6][7]

Early life and education[]

Boylan was born in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and graduated from The Haverford School, a private, all-boys prep school in Haverford, Pennsylvania, in 1976. Boylan graduated from Wesleyan University in 1980, then completed graduate work in English at Johns Hopkins University.^{[citation needed]}

Career[]

Boylan was on the faculty of Colby College from 1988 to 2014.^[8][9] In 2000, she was named "Professor of the Year" at Colby College.^[10] Starting in 2001 after her male-to-female transition, she began publishing under the name Jennifer Boylan.^[11] She moved to Barnard in 2014, where she is both Professor of English and Anna Quindlen Writer-in-Residence.^[12]

Boylan has written thirteen books, including novels, collections of short stories, and her autobiography. She has also contributed to the op-ed section of The New York Times.^[8] Her 2003 autobiography, She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders was the first book published by an openly transgender American to become a bestseller.^[8] Her memoir, Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs was published on April 21, 2020 with Celadon Books.^[13]

In 2013, Boylan was chosen as the first openly transgender co-chair of GLAAD's National Board of Directors.^[14] Boylan also serves on the Policy Advisory Board of Gender Rights Maryland^[15] and the Board of Trustees of the Kinsey Institute for Research on Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.

Public life[]

Boylan has spoken on numerous college campuses, including Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, and Barnard.^[16] Boylan has made appearances via a variety of media outlets to discuss her life, books, and activism. She has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, The Today Show, 48 Hours, and NPR.^[8] She made an appearance on 20/20 on April 24, 2015 in support of celebrity Caitlyn Jenner revealing she is a trans person and regularly appeared on screen and as a consultant on Jenner's reality show I Am Cait.^[17]

Based on the text of the appeal, she signed "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate" which appeared on Harper's Magazine website on 7 July 2020, including many high-profile names, some with controversial positions on human sexuality within the trans community, such as J. K. Rowling. On discovering the names of the other signatories post-publication, Boylan retracted her signature, whereas the transgender LGBT activist Deirdre McCloskey remains on the list.^[18]

Personal life[]

Boylan is a trans woman. She has two children, Zaira and Sean, with Deirdre Boylan, whom she married in 1988.^[19] Boylan began transitioning in 2000,^[20] beginning with therapy, feminine clothing, and female hormone supplements.^[21] While undergoing sexual reassignment surgery, Boylan was convinced that her marriage to Deirdre would end.^[22] Today, the couple is still married and lives in New York City and Belgrade Lakes, Maine.^[16] Nine years after she began her transition, Boylan published an article for The New York Times stating that "my spouse and I love each other, and that our legal union has been a good thing – for us, for our children and our community".^[23]

Boylan plays keyboard instruments as well as the zither^[24] and describes playing in various bands in her autobiography.

Awards and honors[]

In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade, Queerty named her among the fifty heroes “leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people”.^[25][26]

Bibliography[]

• Remind Me to Murder You Later (1988) ISBN 0-8018-3728-6
• The Planets (April 15, 1991) ISBN 978-0671727154
• The Constellations: A Novel (November 8, 1994) ISBN 978-0679430216
• Getting In (September 1, 1998) ISBN 978-0446674171
• She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders (July 29, 2003) ISBN 978-0767914048
• I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted: A Memoir (January 15, 2008) ISBN 978-0767921749
• Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror (May 11, 2010) ISBN 978-0061728327
• Falcon Quinn and the Crimson Vapor (May 10, 2011) ISBN 978-0061728358
• Stuck in the Middle with You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders (April 30, 2013) ISBN 978-0767921763
• Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community (June 10, 2014) ISBN 978-0199325351
• You Are You (May 12, 2015) ISBN 978-3868285406
• Falcon Quinn and the Bullies of Greenblud (September 16, 2016)
• Long Black Veil (April 11, 2017) ISBN 978-0451496324
• Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs (April 21, 2020) ISBN 978-1250261861

Anthologies[]

• Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs (April 12, 2005) ISBN 978-1400030149
• The Book of Dads: Essays on the Joys, Perils, and Humiliations of Fatherhood (May 12, 2009) ISBN 978-0061711558
• Love Is a Four-Letter Word: True Stories of Breakups, Bad Relationships, and Broken Hearts (July 28, 2009) ISBN 978-0452295506
• How Beautiful the Ordinary (October 6, 2009) ISBN 978-0061154980
• It Gets Better (March 22, 2011) ISBN 978-0525952336
• Truth & Dare: 20 Tales of Heartbreak and Happiness (April 26, 2011) ISBN 978-0762441044

See also[]

• LGBT culture in New York City
• List of LGBT people from New York City

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Jennifer Finney Boylan

• Official website
• Jennifer Finney Boylan Papers, 1961-2004 MC 1025; T-550. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.