April Ashley

After an interview at Liverpool University I had the rest of the day to wander around. My first trip to the city, so after visiting what seems to be quite a big university area (I don't think it's a 'campus' because it's pretty central and seems part of normal life) I walked though the shopping area to the Albert dock and spent a bit of time mooching. I realised that I know very little about the place, so I decided that the Museum of Liverpool was a good place to start. It seems quite new and to be honest it wasn't clear about its contents, but I noticed an exhibition about April Ashley, who was born in Liverpool and went on to become a successful model and business woman before being outed as trans by the press. She endured a very public court case during which the judge ruled that she was female in all aspects except that of marriage, and so her husband was successful in claiming that their marriage was invalid, despite the fact that he was fully aware of her trans background when he married her. She seems a marvellously unapologetic character.

This was an art work which reflected me and some modern portraits of trans people which were part of the exhibition.