Malc and I went to Brighton for the weekend to meet up with a couple of his old friends, both of whom are transvestites. Both were born and bred in the North East and met Malc while at Uni but have settled in Brighton because they feel there’s more acceptance for trannies there than any other place they’ve been, apart from possibly Manchester’s Gay Village.

I can understand that. We met several of their friends and there’s no doubt that there’s a huge TV/TS community in the town with the famous sticks of rock and pebble beach, with plenty of TV friends bars, clubs and restaurants around.

Apparently most transgender people are heterosexual, a fact that sits well with my own experience of TVs who visit our swingers’ club. Rather than cross-dressing for sexual reasons, they do it because it makes them feel good – they like to express their feminine sides. Mind you, having said that, the couple we visited are most definitely gay, but they accept that they’re the exception rather than the rule. Some are also bi-sexual and could find themselves anywhere along the gender spectrum. One transvestite I spoke to described himself as a lesbian – a girl who likes girls. Yeah… that makes sense.

Brighton also has a support group for those who aren’t ready to cross-dress in public but who want to meet other likeminded people. The Clare Project is open to anybody who is, or thinks they may be, a transsexual or have any other kind of gender identity problem. They also arrange events from weekly swimming sessions to restaurant visits.

I think it’s fantastic that transvestites and transsexuals have A place where they can feel at home, whether its within the town itself, some of the bars etc or through the Clare Project.

If you’re TV friendly (and I’m sure you are), you might be interested in Press for Change, a political lobbying and educational organisation that campaigns to achieve equal civil rights and liberties for all trans people in the United Kingdom, through legislation and social change (that last bit copied from their website).

We’re supposed to live in a society of tolerance so it’s about time EVERYBODY, regardless of sexual preferences and the likes, had the same rights.

Sadie xx

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