So what’s the deal with The Hangover: Part II?  I went to see the movie prior to reading any reviews or articles on it. I admit my opinion can be swayed, especially by negative feedback.  The movie itself was about as shallow and unimpressive as the first one, but sometimes we just need a stupid laugh and that it accomplished.

Several days after seeing the movie I started noticing facebook pages promoting a petition to ban all things Warner Bros.  I must say, I was taken aback. The petition was based on the fact that the transgender community was being mocked throughout the movie.  Indeed there is a scene that involves transwomen. The main characters follow a trail that leads them back to places they had been the night before yet have no recollection of. One of those places is a strip club in Bangkok. The scene unfolds in the back room with the strippers wandering throughout the dressing room. It makes reference to one of the male characters having had sex with one of the strippers and then the realization that the stripper is indeed a transwoman with an intact penis.

For me this was quite a pivotal moment. I was shocked, but not how many others seem to be.  I gave big props to Warner Bros. for having the gonads to show actual transwomen.  I remember thinking the exposure would be great for the trans community.  That people need to see this community exists, that they are real people, and that they are mainstream. I have always believed that exposure desensitizes people. This holds true for all communities that have faced the odds, prevailed and are now mainstream.  Most people don’t know what a transsexual or transgender person is, and even more certain they probably haven’t met one that they know of.  I thought Warner Bros. profiling the transwomen was a huge leap.  And I congratulate them.

The scene showed the characters obvious distaste for the sexual act he committed with the transwoman. However I think to say it degraded the trans community and mocked their existence is inaccurate.  If I, as a lesbian, were to awake from a stupor to find out that I slept with a man, would my repulsion mean I am mocking all thing about men? Would it make sense for straight men to petition everything I do because of my sexual preference?  Hardly.  The character was a straight male. There is no reason to believe he would be ok having a sexual encounter with someone that clearly doesn’t fit his orientation.  Big deal. We would all do that.  And we would all have friends that ribbed us for the incident just as his friends did throughout the rest of the movie.

The trans community is so small and so isolated.  It doesn’t quite fit into any other larger group comfortably.  Small sub cultures are always at risk for harsher ridicule and less exposure.  Seeing a true transwoman on the big screen, in a movie geared to mainstream, was incredible to me. I think the community as a whole should be thanking Warner Bros. for the exposure.  Thank them for showing people transmen and women are real and do exist.  Instead of using the time to further the hate and risk future exposure, the trans community needs to realize that although the character may not have been portrayed as having the classiest of careers, they were portrayed and visible.  Perhaps a petition to portray the trans community in more movies would be a better use of time and effort.  I consider myself an advocate for the trans community and certainly the gender queer community and I have to say kudos to you Warner Bros.

Echo resides in northern New Jersey with her wife and the two youngest of their five children. You can visit her blog at dysphoricallyspeaking.blogspot.com.