Crossdressing in the UK vs Crossdressing in Central and South America - my story

[Launa]

Until I joined this site a few months ago and I had always thought that the UK would be very liberal towards TS and CDers but I have learned from others here on the forum that there is zero tolerance for us. I can't believe it because take England for example, it is part of the Commonwealth, stable government, fair justice system etc...
I also remember the punk rock 80's look, I listened to David Bowie and Elton John and I have real good friends from England but I have never discussed CDing with them.
So why is a progressive country so intollerant?

Many years ago I was travelling in Cental America, I was on a 3rd class open air train, the trip was 7 hours and we were going through a lot of small towns. I made friends with some guys that could speak English but were from that country. We came to a town just as it was turning dusk. The town was actually more like a village and I could here some people from the train hollering at a woman in a long dress. She was standing in the dirt street hollering back at the train and blowing kisses at the same time. There were also a few 6-10 year old kids hanging around this woman. I said to one of the guys hey whats going on? He said oh thats a @0.^*) in Spanish and I said what?
He said its a man dressed as a woman and everybody is teasing each other. I said oh yeah, he said this is common when you are on the trains passing through these small towns.
I said what are all the kids doing following her around? He said yeah the kids follow them around a tease her. I couldn't believe it.
So why is a 3rd world country that we would say is "behind the times" and can be backwards actually be ahead of us in many ways?

[Vickie_CDTV]

Like any place, attitudes can vary greatly from area to area, and that is certainly true of the USA; some places are more tolerant than others. If I remember right, Belize is in South America and is part of the Commonwealth, and there homosexuality is a criminal offense, and in fact homosexuals are not allowed to even enter the country (I believe this is the case with a few Caribbean islands that are members of the Commonwealth as well.) I am sure there are areas of the UK where TVism is not tolerated well, and some where it is more accepting.

[JessHaust]

I grew up with the same perception of e UK being a CD friendly place. Certianly he media coming out of the UK leads us to that conclusion. Monty Python, The Crying Game, Benny Hill, etc.

[dominique]

Im from the UK. There several cities in the UK where its accepted these tend to be the bigger ones eg London, Manchester and Edinburgh. Like all countries there are people who don't like it. Its not if we're in the dark ages. Jess although you get the idea through the media the ones you quoted are comedic displays. We try to get as far away from that idea of cding as possible. In the public's mind that is how we dress and act. So we've got to be positive and be on the front foot.
Hope that clears it some.

[Polly Sharp]

Several years ago, I used to go to Leeds quite a lot. There was, and still is, a regular T-Girls night. Girls would be in the streets, fully dressed, going to the venues around the area.

In contrast, Doncaster is just down the road and many people have tried to get a T night going, but the only time anyone seems to go about dressed in Donny is when the Pride event is on.

NJot everywhere is as accepting it seems.