So after six years of waiting for the major 'A' reveal on Pretty Little Liars, fans finally were given the answer they'd been waiting for - just who was the Big Bad lurking behind the mask? It turns out, the much-suspected CeCe Drake, but what most didn't see coming is that CeCe is in fact trans, and used to live her life as a male called Charles.
Working alongside Sarah in the show, CeCe has always been 'Big A', but was born as Alison's brother Charles DiLaurentis - notice their initials are the same? It all seems so obvious, at this point.
Now I've seen controversy surrounding the reveal of Cece as a transgender character. Some say it's damaging to portray a character from that community as someone with psychopathic tendancies, but if we're truly looking to include members of the LGBT communtiy equally within everything, why shouldn't we celebrate the fact that we can now have a trans character as a major villain in a hugely popular television series for young people?
We have to move away from treating those different to the majority with kid gloves - if people watching Pretty Little Liars will have their view of all trans people tarnished because of this storyline, then quite frankly they would never be able to come to terms with trans identity full stop.
Here's one example to explain my point. Black people have in the past and still do to this day see themselves characterised as violent and aggressive - should black actors then not be able to play violent and aggressive criminals in television or film, because it's a role that some would say backs up that stereotype? No, because that would be racist in itself. So, is it transphobic to not want any trans character to be seen as a villain on-screen?
A trend with viewers seems to be that they believe CeCe is portrayed as someone who's done terrible things BECAUSE she is trans, but that's just a misunderstanding of what the show offered up. Cece is someone who has done terrible things not BECAUSE she is trans, but because of the betrayals she's had from those who should love her BECAUSE of her being trans. There's a huge, huge difference which many are failing to see there.
CeCe was surrounded by healthy-minded people for only a small portion of her life. After that, she was treated as if she was insane and even saw a woman killed whilst she was just 12 years old - surely this will play a bigger role in her psychosis than her gender? Gender roles themselves are made by society, so what difference does gender identity really make in who a person is other than what they literally think of themselves?
We should be thankful that a show is willing to break the mould by putting a trans person in such a position. It's revolutionary depending on how you look at it. Some say it villainises all trans people - those with a larger scope for things will see it as the progression the LGBT community still so drastically needs. In a decade we'll look back and hopefully see CeCe as the first of many high profile trans characters - because not all trans people are angels, just as thousands in any community, regardless of gender, age, sexuality - the list goes on - aren't all angels.
So congratulations Pretty Little Liars. The storm may be rough right now, but you've done a great thing.