Julie Tarney

Julie Tarney is author of the award-winning memoir, MY SON WEARS HEELS: One Mom's Journey from Clueless to Kickass (University of Wisconsin Press 2016), about her experiences raising a gender nonconforming child in the Midwest in the 1990s and what she learned about gender identity, gender expression, and self-acceptance. She serves on the board of the It Gets Better Project, is a contributing advice columnist for My Kid Is Gay, and is an active member of PFLAG NYC's Safe Schools Program. She was named a Favorite Queer Hero of 2016 by HuffPost and one of BlogHers Voices of the Year in 2015. Her book won Bronze in the 2016 INDIES Book of the Year Awards. A longtime resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Julie now lives in Brooklyn, New York. She can often be found cheering in the audience at her creative director and sometimes-drag-artist son Harrys performances.