This file contains information “transvestites (TV)” and “transsexuals (TS)”, collected by the Befriending Team, and includes articles from magazines and journals, correspondence and lists of "people with a professional interest in matters of gender identity, transsexualism, and transvestism".

It also includes information about the Beaumont Society (including an application for membership), and literature produced by the Society. This information was sent following a request from the Befriending Team.

The correspondence and literature received in 1982 describes the society as “an organisation run for, and by, heterosexual transvestites and is dedicated to their special needs. It also tries to help gender motivated transsexuals”.

Please note that there is outdated and offensive language used within this file, particularly in medicalised language used to describe gender nonconformity.

Please note that “transvestite” is a historical term used to describe individuals who wear clothes associated with a gender other than their gender assigned at birth. This is generally considered to be a derogatory term and has been used here in a historical context.

Individuals who wear clothes stereotypical to or associated with a gender other than their predominantly-identified gender may describe themselves as crossdressers, but this is only used to describe individuals who self-identify as such.

Transsexual may also be considered an outdated term, although it is still used by some individuals.

Transsexualism is described as: an individual's identification with a gender inconsistent with or not culturally associated with their assigned sex.