Julie Tarney
Julie Tarney is an advocate for LGBTQIA youth, speaker and author. Her award-winning memoir, My Son Wears Heels: One Mom’s Journey from Clueless to Kickass (University of Wisconsin Press 2016) and blog of the same name are about her experiences raising a gender nonconforming child in the Midwest in the 1990s and what she learned from him along the way about gender identity, gender expression and self-acceptance. Julie is a board member for the It Gets Better Project, contributes to HuffPost Queer Voices and is an active member of PFLAG NYC’s Safe Schools program. Julie is also a member of the National Center for Transgender Equality’s Families for Trans Equality network, and was named a “Favorite Queer Hero of 2016” by HuffPost and one of BlogHer’s “Voices of the Year” in 2015. A longtime resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Julie now lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she can often be found cheering in the audience at her creative director and sometimes-drag-artist son Harry’s performances.
Julie’s Contributions to My Kid Is Gay
July 2018 – How Do I Talk to My Christian Parents About My Kid’s Gender Exploration?
April 2018 – They/Them Pronouns Have Come Between My Child and Me
February 2018 – Should I Indulge My Young, Gender Nonconforming Son’s Interest in Middle Eastern Dance?
December 2017 – My Son Likes Nail Polish, But Our Relatives Gift Only “Boy” Toys
October 2017 – Does Worrying About My Gender Nonconforming Son Make Me a Bad Mom?
July 2017 – Is an 8-Year-Old Too Young to Know He’s Gay?
April 2017 – Supporting Your Eyeliner-Wearing Son at Catholic School
March 2017 – My Daughter Came Out on Social Media (and Doesn’t Know that I Know!)
December 2016 – Why Did He Only Come Out to Me
September 2016 – My Trans Son Still Likes Girly Things
March 2016 – When He Thinks Being Gay Is Being A “Sissy”
December 2015 – Getting Through the Holidays with Homophobic Relatives
December 2014 – For the Gender Non-Conforming Child on Your Holiday Gift List
September 2014 – Discipline Without Driving Away
June 2014 – Handling a Son’s Femininity
May 2014 – Parent Advice: Talking to Young Children