Funny Girls
Blackpool's best-known drag cabaret, staging big themed revues in a restored 1939 art deco cinema two minutes from Blackpool North.
Gender-fluid people in Blackpool
What gender-fluid means, practical tips, groups that welcome you and your rights.
Gender-fluid people have a gender that changes over time. That might be day to day, month to month or over years, and it might move between male, female, both or neither. Gender-fluid is usually counted under the non-binary umbrella. How often and how much it changes varies from person to person, and someone's gender can shift without any change in their clothes or appearance.
Gender-fluid is about identity. It is different from cross-dressing, which is about clothes, though some people are both. See cross-dressers in Blackpool.
Why Blackpool suits gender-fluid people
Blackpool has spent more than a century making a show of gender: male impersonators like Vesta Tilley, panto dames, Danny La Rue and today's drag queens. The Rainbow Quarter is used to people who look different from one night to the next, and its mixed bars won't bat an eyelid.
The Flying Handbag
A big, purpose-built LGBTQ+ bar and club on Queen Street, open from noon every day with drag hosts, karaoke, food and a sun terrace.
Garlands
A camp, free-entry drag pub near Blackpool North where resident queens are on from mid-afternoon every single day.
Mardi Gras
An LGBTQ+ public bar and hotel on Lord Street with three areas, cabaret, hot food, Sunday roasts and keen drink prices.
Practical tips
- Packing for a weekend: the quarter's guest houses are small and independent. If you'll be presenting differently on different days, a quick message when you book saves any awkwardness at the door.
- Men-only venues: Trades, the Prince Albert, Welhorny's, the Growlr Club and the saunas admit men only. Policies on non-binary and gender-fluid guests vary, so ask first.
- Changing: the monthly LGBTQ+ swim at Moor Park has unisex changing rooms.
Groups that welcome gender-fluid people
Blackpool Renaissance trans support group
A long-running trans peer support group meeting twice a month at a Dickson Road guesthouse, open to trans people, partners and allies.
Lancashire LGBT Women and Non-Binary Group
A free monthly online group from the county LGBTQ+ charity for lesbian, bi, trans and queer women and femme non-binary people.
Manspace (Lancashire LGBT)
A free monthly online peer-support group from the county LGBTQ+ charity for gay, bi, trans and queer men and masc non-binary people.
Blackpool Allies
A free, relaxed social evening twice a month for LGBT+ people and anyone who supports them, at the Horizon centre on Dickson Road.
Renaissance explicitly welcomes gender-fluid people, and has done for years. Lancashire LGBT's online groups are organised by how you present (femme or masc), so you can choose either, or both on different months.
Your rights
In Taylor v Jaguar Land Rover (2020) an employment tribunal found that an employee who identified as gender-fluid and non-binary was protected from discrimination under the Equality Act's gender reassignment characteristic. There is no legal non-binary or gender-fluid status in the UK. See UK law.
Support
Gender Outreach drop-in, Blackpool
A free monthly lunchtime drop-in at Blackpool Central Library for people on, waiting for or considering the gender identity clinic pathway.
Switchboard LGBT+ Helpline
A free national listening and information line, by phone, chat and email, staffed by LGBTQIA+ volunteers.
The gender-fluid flag has five stripes: pink, white, purple, black and blue.
Sources
Trans and gender identity: more pages
TransgenderPeer groups, the gender outreach drop-in, the Phoenix Clinic, trans-friendly stays, history and UK law.Trans menLancashire Lads, trans-masc support online, the Phoenix Clinic, welcoming venues and history.Trans womenTransInclusion and Renaissance, the Phoenix Clinic, trans-friendly stays and nights out.Non-binaryWhat non-binary means, local groups and clinics, unisex spaces and your rights in the UK.AgenderWhat agender means, how it differs from asexual, and the groups and spaces open to you.BigenderWhat bigender means, how it differs from gender-fluid and bisexual, and who welcomes you.AndrogynousAndrogyny as identity and as style, Blackpool's gender-bending stage history, and welcoming places.Gender-nonconformingWhat gender-nonconforming means, how it differs from trans, practical tips and support.Two-SpiritWhat Two-Spirit means, where it comes from, and the Canadian MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ term.Third gender and cultural identitiesHijra, fa'afafine, muxe and more: third genders around the world, UK law, and faith and culture support.Every identityThe full list, the long acronyms and UK law.