A Fascinating Early Tenancy: The Transvestite / Transsexual Group at London Friend

By James Whitfield

CONTENT WARNING: This article includes references to outdated historical language and views that would now be considered transphobic.

The Transvestite/Transsexual Group — more commonly known as The TV/TS Group — was based in London Friend’s building at 274 Upper Street from October 1976 until the summer of 1986. ¹ The Group was run as an autonomous ‘self-help, self-supporting’ user group for most of this period, simply paying rent to London Friend for the use of its premises ². This ten-year tenancy is therefore an early example of something London Friend continues to do today - providing regular space for independent or semi-independent user groups serving those members of what we would now call the LGBTQIA+ community who might struggle to access space elsewhere.

The TV/TS Group certainly made the most of that space. It held informal social meetings every weekend at which people who identified as transvestites or transsexuals, as well as their partners and friends, could socialise and ‘dress’ ³ in a safe, relaxed, and welcoming environment. ⁴ It ran a befriending service and offered support and information across the country by establishing its own helpline, 24-hour answering machine service and daytime office. It kept its dispersed membership informed, entertained, and connected with a regular newsletter, Tatters, and its own journal, The Glad Rag, which was filled with updates on the Group’s activities, short stories and articles, readers’ letters, cartoons, and pen-pal listings. It held bring-and-buy sales, make-up demonstrations and video evenings as well as costume balls, boat trips and an annual dinner and dance. It published and widely distributed a booklet providing information and advice for transvestites’ wives and family members. ⁵ And it raised its profile, extended its reach, and raised public understanding of transvestism and transsexualism through media appearances and campaigning to become a key referral for the Agony Aunts of the national press. ⁶

Speaking of their time at London Friend, Yvonne Sinclair, the co-ordinator of the Group for most of that period, remembered an easy, mutually beneficial relationship:

‘…we had a wonderful run there because we only paid a peppercorn rent, which must seem amazing now, but was £2 a month, and that was a Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. One of the reasons London Friend enjoyed having the TVs there was because they did run a helpline, which meant two guys was in the building on their own, but because there was a group downstairs, they never felt quite so isolated. And they would pop down and have a cup of tea or a glass of wine. If we had a party night, quite often a few of them would find an excuse to come and indulge in a few of the sandwiches. We always made ‘em welcome anyway. There was no anti-gay feeling whatsoever.’ ⁷

But while there was ‘no anti-gay feeling’, the TV/TS Group was always keen to emphasise its autonomy from London Friend, fearful that being known as part of a gay organisation could get in the way of potential service users accessing its services. An open letter to the Beaumont Society written in 1984, for example, said of 274 Upper Street’s other occupants, ‘Yes, they are gay groups but just because we meet in the building DON’T assume that all members and visitors to the TV/TS GROUP have to be or are’. ⁸ Similarly, when The Sun’s Agony Aunt, Deidre Sanders, chose in 1983 to recommend The Beaumont Society to the concerned wife of a cross-dressing man rather than the TV/TS Group, an article in The Glad Rag wondered whether this was because she thought the TV/TS Group ‘part of a ‘gay’ organisation, London Friend, and hence not suitable to help a heterosexual marriage?’ As the article goes on to state, ‘We are not a gay group, not part of a gay group and never have been, ‘The Friend TV/TS Group’ is a misnomer.’ ⁹

Despite this concern about the implications of being connected to a ‘gay group’, the prospect of losing their home at London Friend was a regular source of panic in the pages of The Glad Rag. The early 1980s, for example, saw the TV/TS Group starting to fear that London Friend could leave 274 Upper Street, either because of losing their own lease or by choosing to move into the Greater London Council-backed London Lesbian and Gay Centre that was being proposed at the time. ¹⁰ As Yvonne Sinclair wrote in October 1983 on the possibility of the Group joining London Friend at the proposed Centre, ‘I feel we would not have the identity or freedom that we enjoy with Friends, nor enjoy creating for ourselves certain evenings of fun; but might have to exist within a controlled and rigid framework – that is, if we were made welcome at all.’ ¹¹ It was, in fact, reported at the TV/TS Group Meeting on the 16th of October 1982 that the various gay groups involved in the proposed centre were ‘by and large unsympathetic, if not quite hostile towards TVs and TSs, whom they are apt to point out are largely heterosexual’. ¹² The resulting concern that the Group would be ‘left out on the streets’ and transvestites and transsexuals left ‘with little or nowhere to go’, was a key motivation behind the Group’s 1982 decision to work towards both raising its profile and raising the funds for its own premises; an ambition they made real in 1986 when they opened the TV/TS Centre at 2-4 French Place in Shoreditch. ¹³

Described in the Glad Rag as ‘the only such centre’ that had ‘been provided in the UK; maybe, even, in the world!’, 2-4 French Place had room for a large social space and bar, an office, changing rooms and make-up areas, hireable lockers, quiet areas and a non-smoking section. ¹⁴ It was a great achievement for the Group and made quite a change from the rooms they rented at 274 Upper Street, which, as one helpline volunteer was fond of saying, gave ‘a whole new meaning to the word squalour! (sic) ’. ¹⁵ However, some members felt that, with the extra space, something was lost. Yvonne Sinclair described 274 Upper Street as having ‘an atmosphere that, when we moved, didn't come with us. Maybe it was because it was small … it was confining’. ¹⁶ Similarly, a reader of The Glad Rag who considered 274 to be ‘bordering on ‘unfit for human habitation’ nevertheless felt that, when they moved, ‘we left our heart behind.’ As their letter to the journal recalled, ‘With the compactness of 274 nobody could be left as a ‘wallflower.’ People had to talk to each other, if only to move them to obtain a drink, etc.’ At 2-4 French Place, in comparison, they worried that the shyer attendees, or those who did not know many other members, were sometimes ‘left out in the cold.’ ¹⁷ And with the end of sub-letting from London Friend on very favourable terms, it was accepted that the Group would have to start operating ‘on a far more commercial basis’. As Yvonne Sinclair put it, ‘the days of cheap existence’ were over. ¹⁸

It is important to note that there are attitudes and language in the pages of The Glad Rag that may appear old-fashioned and even offensive to readers today. The terms ‘transvestite’ and ‘transsexual’ are now considered by many to be outdated, with individuals using a far larger range of terms to describe their gender identity/expression. The Glad Rag also betrays a degree of ambivalence regarding transsexualism in general. In one issue, we can read about Yvonne Sinclair, the Group’s dominant figure and self-confessed ‘benevolent dictator’, sending flowers to a member who was going into hospital ‘to fulfil the aspiration and dream that many of us hold or have held’. ¹⁹ Yet in another we find Sinclair, a transvestite who had previously lived as a female for a few years and reportedly described herself as a ‘lapsed transsexual’, openly questioning the very concept of ‘a woman trapped in a man’s  body’, and pondering what, beyond dressing as a woman, a MTF transsexual would gain from surgery. ²⁰

There are, sadly, still plenty of offensive attitudes and discriminatory actions causing harm to the trans community and those who cross dress in the United Kingdom today. Thankfully a variety of organisations now offer support to trans, non-binary and gender-diverse individuals. London Friend, for example, currently runs ‘T on Tuesday’, a weekly social support group for trans and non-binary people, and anyone exploring their gender. It also provides space every month for meetings of the Beaumont Society, an external organisation established in 1966 as a ‘cloistered’ group for heterosexual MTF cross-dressers, but today functioning as a ‘national self help body’ for the whole transgender community. ²¹ The TV/TS Group, which eventually closed in 1993, stands as a fascinating forerunner of newer organisations and services. Aspects of the Group and its work may now seem outdated, but it helped countless transvestites and transsexuals to not only accept themselves but also find relief, enjoyment, and a sense of belonging from coming together. As one member described in 1983, they ‘experienced such a feeling of relief’ following their first phone-call to the Group ‘that it’s difficult to describe. The mere fact that someone just accepted that I enjoy being dressed as an ordinary, everyday desire, and not as some weird perversion, sent me into a state of euphoria’. ²²

Footnotes

1. It was also known at different times as The Transvestite/Transsexual Social Group and The Transvestite/Transsexual Support Group. The personal website of Yvonne Sinclair, long-time co-ordinator of the Group is a rich resource of information about its history. It includes wonderful photo galleries and audio recordings of Sinclair’s own memories. It can be accessed here: https://yvonnesinclair.co.uk NB This website contains historical language and views that would now be considered transphobic and sexist, as well as descriptions of sexual harassment, indecent exposure, and transphobic abuse.
2. Elaine Barker, ‘An Open Letter to the Beaumont Society Executive Committee and Membership’, The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 13 (1984), 22-24 (p. 23)
3. The term “dressing” was regularly used in the Group’s writings to refer to the wearing of wigs, make-up and conventionally feminine clothing. It is a historical term that would be offensive to some trans people today.
4. The Group also had an ‘open door’ policy and welcomed attendees/members of all sexualities. See: Anon, ‘THE MEETINGS OF 16/17 OCTOBER’, The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 1 (November 1982), 4-6 (p. 4). A gallery of photographs taken at these social meetings can be viewed here: https://yvonnesinclair.co.uk/galleries/274dest/index.htm
5. Yvonne Sinclair, Transvestism within a Partnership of Marriage and Families, 2 edn (London: Transvestite/Transsexual Social Group, 1986). The booklet can be read here: https://yvonnesinclair.co.uk/pages/Yvonne's%20Book.html
6. For more on the TV/TS Group’s strategy for getting into ‘Agony Aunt’ columns, see: Anon, ‘“PUBLICITY” SAYS IT ALL’, The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 1 (November 1982), 2. For more on the Group’s success in this endeavour, see: Paula et al., ‘THE “AUNTIES” APPRECIATE OUR MUM!’, The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 21 (1985), 9.
7. Yvonne Sinclair, Yvonne’s Thoughts: The TV/TS Group (2002) <https://yvonnesinclair.co.uk/pages/Yvonne's%20Thoughts.html> [accessed 25 April 2022]. This quotation was taken from a series of audio recordings of Yvonne Sinclair’s memories and opinions. They can be accessed here: https://yvonnesinclair.co.uk/pages/Yvonne's%20Thoughts.html NB These recordings contain historical language and views that would now be considered transphobic and sexist, as well as descriptions of sexual harassment, indecent exposure and transphobic abuse.
8. Barker, p. 23.
9. Anon, Untitled Article, The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 4 (February 1983), 4-5 (pp. 4,5).
10. Yvonne Sinclair, ‘YVONNE’S BITS’, The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 10 (October 1983), 3.
11. Ibid. p. 3.
12. Anon, ‘THE MEETINGS OF 16/17 OCTOBER’, p. 4.
13. Ibid. pp. 4-6, and Christine-Jane Wilson, ‘INDEPENDENCE DAY – THE GLORIOUS FIFTH!’, The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 29 (1986), 1-3.
14. Wilson, ‘INDEPENDENCE DAY…’, p. 2, and Yvonne Sinclair, 2-4 French Place (date unknown) <https://yvonnesinclair.co.uk/pages/2%20French%20Place.html> [accessed 25 April 2022]. You can view images of 2-4 French Place here: https://yvonnesinclair.co.uk/pages/Building%20French%20Place.html and photographs of Group activities in the new building here: https://yvonnesinclair.co.uk/galleries/2fpdest/index.htm
15. Christine-Jane Wilson, ‘FINAL NIGHTS AT 274 UPPER STREET’, The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 28 (1986), 21.
16. Yvonne Sinclair, Yvonne’s Thoughts: Events and The Group Atmosphere (2002) <https://yvonnesinclair.co.uk/pages/Yvonne's%20Thoughts.html> [accessed 25 April 2022].
17. The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 36 (1987), 39-46 (p. 44).
18. Wilson, ‘FINAL NIGHTS AT 274 UPPER STREET’, p. 21.
19. Yvonne Sinclair, ‘Yvonne’s Bits’, The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 23 (1985), 6; Anon, ‘ANNOUNCEMENTS’, The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 2 (December 1982), 2; Yvonne Sinclair, ‘Yvonne’s Bits’, The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 2 (December 1982), 2,4 (p. 2).
20. A Gender Variance Who’s Who, Yvonne Sinclair (1934 – 2013) sailor, changeback, activist, actor (2013) <https://zagria.blogspot.com/2013/01/yvonne-sinclair-1934-2013-sailor.html#> [accessed 12 May 2022]; Yvonne Sinclair, ‘YVONNE’S BITS’, The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 15 (1984), 7.
21. London Friend, External Groups (date unknown) <https://londonfriend.org.uk/external-groups/> [accessed 8 July 2022], and Bishopsgate Institute, Beaumont Society Press Cuttings Collection (date unknown) https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/collections/beaumont-society-press-cuttings-collection [accessed 20 July 2022]. You can access more information on The Beaumont Society here: https://www.beaumontsociety.org.uk Other organisations supporting the trans, non-binary and gender diverse community include cliniQ in London (https://cliniq.org.uk), Gendered Intelligence (https://genderedintelligence.co.uk) and Mermaids (https://mermaidsuk.org.uk).
22. The Glad Rag: Journal of the TV/TS Group, 8 (July/August 1983), 5-6 (pp, 5-6). The reader goes on to confess that this ‘state of euphoria’ even led them to ‘burst into poetry’!

Gallery

Transvestism

Front cover of Tranvestism within a Partnership of Marriage and Families. Courtesy of Bishopsgate Institute.

The Glad Rag

The Glad Rag

The Glad Rag

The Glad Rag

Logo of the TV/TS Centre

Bibliography