“A vivid, heartfelt, and ultimately joyful account of one mother’s journey raising a son who did not ‘do gender’ by the books. Julie Tarney shows us that there is no right so precious as our right to be different, and no greater gift we can give to our children than loving them for who they are.”—Harriet Lerner, author of The Dance of Anger “This riveting account of parenting a gender-nonconforming child reminds us of how far we’ve come in the past twenty years, and also how far we have yet to go. Tarney shows us that, while there is no ‘bubble of light’ that can protect our children from all injuries, a parent’s unconditional love is the most effective armor of all.”—Jessica Herthel, coauthor of I Am Jazz “Traditionally, mothers of gender creative children were totally silenced. No mother would ever come forward to tell her story, unless she wanted to be skewered publicly and morally condemned. In that historical light, My Son Wears Heels is both transgressive and transcendent.”—Diane Ehrensaft, author of The Gender Creative Child, from the foreword