Jennifer Finney Boylan (born June 22, 1958)[1] is an American author, transgender activist, professor at Barnard College, and a former contributing opinion writer for the New York Times.
Her 2003 memoir, She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders was the first book published by an openly transgender American to become a bestseller and was described by The Advocate as "a seminal piece of the trans literary canon".
[11] In October 2022, she published Mad Honey, a novel co-written with New York Times bestselling author, Jodi Picoult.
Boylan has spoken on numerous college campuses, including Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, and Barnard.
[16] 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.
[15] 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".
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”.