The story of April Ashley on now or catch it at 23:00 BST on Channel 4 + 1 or later on All 4
"Story of how one transgender woman changed Britain and how Britain changed for transgender people"
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The story of April Ashley on now or catch it at 23:00 BST on Channel 4 + 1 or later on All 4
"Story of how one transgender woman changed Britain and how Britain changed for transgender people"
An entertaining documentary, with some remarkable footage of Le Carrousel, and I was amazed that Bambi is still alive! There was I think an exploitative element to the Club at the time, given that Paris has not always been kind to trans people, but in a way it fit into the trajectory of April Ashley's life that she went from a rough part of Liverpool's maritime/Chinatown area to 'High Society' which she adapted to naturally and which suited her. In this sense her life experience was and is remote from what most trans people experience.
The chilling moment when Lord Ormerod gives his insolent judgment is notable not only for its brutal dismissal of April's reality, but that the text could be taken in whole and reprinted today by some equally insolent people in the Telegraph or the Mail, and is now fundamental to those American freaks called 'Republicans' who are on a mission to not just dismiss the April Ashleys of this world, but to deny them their identity, their way of life, their aspirations, above all, the Rights they have won over decades of struggle.
Some links -note that when April was there (as 'Tony April') Le Carrousel was on the Rue du Colisée off the Champs Elysees (and one block south of where L'Escalita used to be before it moved back to Pigalle); there is a club of this name south of the Blvd de Clichy. The link has photos.
La Carrousel, Paris (queermusicheritage.com)
Pitt Street in Liverpool
Pitt Street remembered at Waterfront event | National Museums Liverpool (liverpoolmuseums.org.uk)