Helen Boyd

Helen Boyd is the author of My Husband Betty (Thunder’s Mouth, 2004), which was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and is often referred to as the “field guide to crossdressers.” Her second book, She’s Not the Man I Married: My Life with a Transgender Husband (Seal Press, 2007), has been called “a postmodern reflection on transness” by Jennifer Finney Boylan. Her blog (en)gender can be found online at www.myhusbandbetty.com.

Boyd has been running online groups since 2000. She has presented workshops at many conferences and has given keynote talks at gatherings such as First Event. Helen and Betty appeared on The Dr. Keith Ablow Show and spoke about GLBT marriage on PBS’ In the Life (and Betty recently played herself on a historic episode of All My Children). Boyd’s writing has also appeared in anthologies edited by Matt(ilda) Bernstein Sycamore, Vern Bullough, and Michelle Tea, and she lectures regularly at colleges. She was also a finalist for a 2009 A Room of Her Own Foundation Grant. 

Helen Boyd is a nom de plume for the otherwise bookish Gail Helen Kramer. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from The City College of New York with a B.A. in English and an M.A. in writing. Her other interests – a love for the films of Buster Keaton, punk rock, writing fiction, and the history of anthracite coal mining in the U.S. – have taken a backseat to her study of gender. She hails from Brooklyn, NY, and currently lives in Appleton, WI, where she teaches Gender Studies at Lawrence University.