Transsexuals are to be allowed into North East branches of the Women's Institute for the first time in a controversial new move.
Throughout the region, former males who have gone through gender reassignment will now be able to join the brigade best known for "jam and Jerusalem".
It comes after the WI's national annual general meeting where it was decided transsexuals should be allowed into one of the oldest organisations in Britain, provided the ex-men have had the full operation to change their sex.
Today, a spokeswoman for the Tyneside Federation of the Women's Institute, said: "Transsex-uals would be welcome to join.
"As long as they've had the operation, then that's fine.
"This was not a mandate, but it is certainly the sentiment. It has come down from national level, but it's not something that has been generally discussed." It's the latest controversy since the Women's Institute hit the headlines last year when members from Rylstone WI in Yorkshire posed for a nude calendar.
The Women's Institute has been throwing off its old image over past months, last year causing blushes for Prime Minister Tony Blair by slow-hand-clapping him at a major conference.
But this move has been applauded by one transsexual support group that believes the new members in the North East could have a lot to offer the WI and the community.
Janett Scott, president of the Beaumont Society, which gives support and advice to transsexuals, cross-dressers and their families in the region, said: "In principle, I think it's a good idea to allow transsexuals to join the WI because a lot of these people have taken the skills from their male lives into their female lives.
"Some of them are very talented needleworkers and cross-stitchers, and great cooks, which are the kind of traditional things that the WI has been built on.
"The difficulty for some transsexuals is that they still look quite masculine and it could be a problem for other WI members to see them as women.
"The other thing is that, even if they look feminine, when members find out they're transsexuals they might have difficulty in accepting that."
But Ms Scott said some transsexuals may only join the WI to prove a point.
She said: "I think some transsexuals would join the WI just to feel they can and then they might leave.
"It would be a political statement.
"As far as the WI is concerned, its members would probably be fine about the idea of transsexuals joining once they had got over the idea that these are people who were men."
The new guideline has not been made official policy but WIs around the country are expected to enter the spirit of it.
