Talk: Meet the Transcestors – Celebrating Jenny Gray, Edwardian Trans Activist
Richard Bliss delivers a lunchtime talk about the extraordinary life of working class trans activist, Jenny Gray.
Historic Event
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Dates
28 July 2026 (historic event)
About
Before other 20th century pioneers such as Roberta Cowell, April Ashley, and Michael Dillon; Jenny Gray was a working class trans activist.
Jenny made her home a safe space for other trans and non-binary people, she refused to be fetishised or shamed by a trans-phobic medical system, and she challenged the legal system in a way that would seem exceptional even today. In this talk, Richard Bliss will introduce the aspects of Jenny’s life that have been gathered from Tyne & Wear Archives and other archives around the UK, and imagine what life might have been like for Jenny, her husband James and other trans-people living at the start of the 20th century.
