Helen Boyd (1969) is the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of Gail Kramer, the American author of two books about her relationship with her

trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom * ''Trans'' (film ...

partner. Her partner is referred to in both books as "Betty Crow", though this is also a pseudonym.

Biography

Helen Boyd graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

from

The City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, City ...

in 1995 with a degree in literature. She has been a guest speaker at trans conferences, including the

IFGE International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE) is an American non-profit transgender advocacy organization. The foundation is devoted to "overcoming the intolerance of transvestitism and transsexualism brought about by widespread ignorance. ...

, First Event,

Fantasia Fair Fantasia Fair (also known as FanFair) is a week-long conference for cross-dressers, transgender and gender questioning people held every October in Provincetown, Massachusetts, a small Portuguese fishing village and largely gay and lesbian tourist ...

Southern Comfort Southern Comfort (often abbreviated SoCo) is an American, naturally fruit-flavored, whiskey liqueur with fruit and spice accents. The brand was created by bartender Martin Wilkes Heron in New Orleans in 1874, using whiskey as the base spirit. W ...

, the Chicago Be-All, and also at special events like Trans Issues Week at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. Helen and Betty have spoken about

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

marriage on PBS's ''

In The Life ''In the Life'' was a LGBT, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) television newsmagazine, broadcast on public television and produced by In The Life Media. It was created in 1991 by the Emmy Award-winning producer John Scagliotti. Premie ...

.'' As of 2011, she is also a Lecturer of Gender and Freshman Studies at

Lawrence University Lawrence University is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Appleton, Wisconsin. Founded in 1847, its first classes were held on November 12, 1849. Lawrence was the second college in the U.S. to be founded as a coeducation ...

. Boyd also run
the mHB Forums
a

message board An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

for the discussion of crossdressing- and transgender-related topics.

Bibliography

''My Husband Betty''

''My Husband Betty'' (2003,

Seal Press Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and history. Hi ...

) is a

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

book by author Helen Boyd about

crossdressers Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually worn by a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and self-express oneself. Cross-dressing has play ...

and their partners. It was nominated for a

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

. Unlike many other books about the topic of crossdressing, it is written specifically from the partner's point of view by a partner and takes a distinctively

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

approach. Although the author's husband was a crossdresser at the time of publication, she now considers herself "trans", a word chosen specifically because it was less well defined (and therefore less restrictive) than "

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

''She's Not The Man I Married''

Boyd's second book is ''She's Not the Man I Married: My Life with a Transgender Husband'' (Seal Press, 2007).

References

External links