Late 20th Century: Gender
Although trans people have been recognised in Europe since the late Victorian period, it took a century for the idea of transness to become generally known in Cumbria.
‘Transvestites’ in the News
By the 1980s ‘transvestites’ (the term then used to cover anyone — almost always biologically male — who dressed in clothes of the ‘opposite’ sex, and which is now considered derogatory) were becoming more widely known, but were often treated as curiosities and objects of ridicule.
In a local review of the BBC documentary Phantom Ladies, the reporter, declaring 1984 to be “the year of the gender-bender” thanks to the popularity of Boy George, acknowledged that the subjects of the documentary “faced shame and scorn in their bid to come out,” before belittling their behaviour. The reporter’s world was one where there was an uncrossable “sex barrier” between “macho” men and frivolous, vain women, whose primary concerns were with moisturiser, stocking seams and handbags.1
The misogyny and transphobia weren’t always so blatant. When a Carlisle man was convicted of burglary in 1987, the headline in the Evening News and Star read “‘Gay Wedding’ man is jailed” and found it relevant to mention that “he married a man called John while wearing a wedding dress at a ceremony involving eight bridesmaids.”2
A later headline in the Evening Mail read “Teenage transvestite stole bra and panties,” although in this case the Barrow magistrate was more sympathetic to the situation of the young defendant, granting bail because of concerns for their safety in prison. The court was told that the defendant “sometimes considered himself to be female,” and “in one case … had been booked into lodgings by a woman who did so thinking he was female.”3
Percy / Roberta Kelly
In 1985 the Cumbrian landscape artist Percy Kelly decided to change their name by deed poll to Roberta and began presenting increasingly often in public as a woman. Born and raised in Workington, Percy/Roberta had spent most of their life in Cumbria, working for the Post Office in West Cumbria and Kendal. In the late 1950s a breakdown prompted them to take up art professionally, capturing the natural and industrial beauty of West Cumbria in watercolours, charcoal and print.
Kelly began wearing women’s clothes in 1965, and the discovery of this by their wife, Audrey, led to the end of a fairly unhappy marriage shortly after. A second marriage in the early 1970s, followed by a move first to South Wales, then to Norfolk, removed Kelly from their beloved Cumbrian landscape and interrupted their artistic flow, while a reluctance to hold exhibitions and sell works made money tight.
A second divorce in 1984, which prompted mental health difficulties, also seems to have brought about the decision to publicly transition. With support from friends, they underwent HRT and lived as Roberta (right) into the early 90s. “I now feel I am a woman first and not the other way around,” they told a friend and for the first time began making self-portraits.
In 1992, just a year before their death, they reverted to their birth name.
Janine Lynne Braithwaite
The year the world lost Percy/Roberta Kelly, it gained Lynne Janine Braithwaite (left). Assigned male at birth, Lynne grew up in Near Sawrey during the 30s and 40s, joined the RAF at 15 and spent the next 40 years of her life fixing and flying planes, travelling the world and becoming an expert in the Vulcan class of jet bombers.
From 1989 her life began to change. Three days after being demobbed, her marriage was officially dissolved, but she moved to Heysham (from where she could see her native fells), went on to set up a successful business and meet someone new. By 1993, the business had faltered in the recession, bringing occasional thoughts about her sense of self to the fore:
Whilst my other half was away visiting relatives I found myself giving way to some of the thoughts that I have been having for a while, but had always been able to put them out of my head and tell myself that I was being silly. I know deep inside that all is not well. When my other half returned we had a very difficult discussion.
That conversation led to a separation, but then:
My mind suddenly cleared and went into overdrive … All the previously subdued feminine feelings have come to a head. WHY? I cannot give a reason or logical explanation. All that I do know is that I am fed up with my male lifestyle and want an end to it!
Lynne began her transition the same year.
Although it was not an easy time to be trans, she faced the ignorance head on. After a bad experience with the police she contacted the Lancashire Constabulary and suggested they take training on dealing with trans people. This led to her providing training and advice for the police in Lancashire and beyond, the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service, magistrates and psychiatrists. She remained an important advocate for trans inclusion in Lancashire until her untimely death in 2007.
The 90s
There were signs that a more sympathetic attitude towards gender non-conformity was taking hold during the 90s. In 1995 the Workington Times and Star included an article about the experience of local trans woman Alex, who had recently begun transitioning.
Alex had experienced gender dysphoria from an early age, but had spent many years repressing those feelings. In her 20s she went through cycles: building up the courage with drink to buy women’s clothes, but later burning them in a bonfire or in the ovens at the steelworks where she worked. Only after her mother died in 1984 did she feel able to explore her feelings and the possibility of transitioning, with the help of trans groups, although early attempts to integrate with the groups proved challenging for her.
By the early 90s Alex had accepted her transness but only lived publicly as a woman when she was away from home, leading a double life that began to take its toll. Eventually, in 1995, she took the decision to return to Workington as herself and found a surprisingly positive response, despite being a subject of gossip. “Most people have been really supportive, especially women friends, but some some male friends don’t know what to say to me,” she told the paper. She also received support from the local gay community. “I have to get people acclimatised to it … In fact, it’s been easier than I thought it would be.”4
Notes
- ‘Boys won’t be boys ..’, Evening News and Star, 11 July 1984, 3. ↩︎
- ‘Gay wedding man is jailed’, Evening News and Star, 15 September 1987, 5. ↩︎
- ‘Teenage transvestite stole bra and panties’, Evening Mail, 24 January, 1990, 5. ↩︎
- ‘Alex is living the life of a woman, in the body of a man’, Times and Star, 21 July 1995, 11. ↩︎