Far, far, far better. As I said, since crossdressing has been a theme in British entertainment for literal centuries, it is much easier to accept someone saying they were born the wrong gender.
If you’re already used to seeing a man in a dress, you’re going to be a lot less upset about it overall. That’s why Eddie (now Suzy) Izzard got very little pushback both when he (at the time) did sold-out comedy shows wearing women’s clothing and, more recently, when she came out as trans. She does say she is fine if you call her he, and Eddie, but prefers she and Suzy.
Queer comedians in general have also had a long history in the UK. Even in the modern era, you had openly gay men like Kenneth Williams being hugely popular in the 1960s and 1970s.