<p>"<br>
(CNN) – Chastity Bono, gay-rights activist and child of performer Cher and the late entertainer and politician Sonny Bono, is in the early stages of transitioning from a female to a male and will be known as Chaz, his spokesman said Thursday.</p>
<p>“Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity,” Howard Bragman said in a written statement.</p>
<p>I like to think I’m as open minded as they come, but the world does spin a little rapidly for me on occasion. As someone who still remembers toddler Chastity being carried out in her parents arms, all dressed up in frilly dresses, at the end of episodes of the Sonny and Cher show, I can only say “My goodness.”</p>
<p>Chaz is a nickname for Charles. (Think of Chazz Palmenteri.) It sounds fine to me.</p>
<p>Anyway, good for him. I’m not sure that anyone with a closed mind and heart is going to open them just because a celebrity transitions (I happen to think that personally getting to know people in that situation is more effective), but, hey, you never know. And it’s hard enough to transition semi-publicly, within your profession; I can’t imagine doing so with a public announcement being made about it in the national press. Quite a few trans people seize the opportunity of transition to accomplish some public education and outreach (or get seduced at a very vulnerable time by the prospect of 15 seconds of fame), and have stories written about them in the local papers; many live to regret it. (There was a rather lengthy article about me and one other trans person – who had a similar educational background, but was much younger – that came out around the time I transitioned. Unfortunately, I was talked into allowing a “before” picture to be published together with the “after” picture. Oy. “Step right up, folks, look at the tranny.” Fortunately, it can’t be found on the Internet. And, equally fortunately, I didn’t allow my last name, or my actual previous first name, to be used.) </p>
<p>So I hope Chaz Bono doesn’t regret this someday, and wish he had kept it more private. Not that it would have been entirely feasible to do so, given that he’s the most well-known person I can think of off the top of my head to transition (as opposed to people who became famous <em>because</em> of their transition, like Christine Jorgensen and Renee Richards.) Jan Morris was fairly well-known as a writer in her field, but I don’t think she was known universally. Alexis Arquette, Larry Wachowski, and Michael Cimino have all transitioned, but I don’t think their names are quite as widely recognized as Mr. Bono, even if he’s better known for who his parents are than for anything he’s done himself. </p>
<p>I wish him the very best of luck. I hope he has a great support system, and that his mother is accepting of him.</p>
<p>DonnaL is it common for lesbians (or gay men) to transgender? </p>
<p>I guess the thing that ‘struck me’ was that Chastity was never really ‘a gay woman’ at all, but really a man living in a woman’s body. Does that make sense??? Are many other of the more masculine lesbians really feeling the same way, that they are really men living in the wrong body.</p>
<p>I wish her/him all the best. It can’t be easy to go thru this, being a celebrity child or not. </p>
<p>Fyi, my brother is gay and to the best of my knowledge doesn’t feel like he was born in the wrong body.</p>
<p>God sure likes to keep us guessing doesn’t He!</p>
<p>Please don’t think I’m nuts for asking this question…</p>
<p>Back story: My Dad’s cousin was born female, dressed male. She kept her own (feminine) name. At family gatherings and such, no big deal was ever made of it. We called most of my dad’s cousins “aunt” or “uncle” but we simply called her by name, and we always referred to her as “her”. When I was a kid and asked a question about why she loooked like a man, my parents simply said, “She wants to.” And that was the end of it.</p>
<p>This was back in the 60s. It is amazing to me now how accepted she was, but at the time, she was simply one more relative who showed up at my grandmother’s house on holidays and family events. I remember her making everyone laugh once by telling us a story once of a lady screaming when she walked into the ladies’ room. </p>
<p>And since then I have wondered, at what point does someone get to use a different bathroom or a different locker room? Is it simply a matter of choice? Can anyone decide they want to use the other? Does it take a legal change? A physical change?</p>
<p>I think you can start using the bathroom/locker room of the opposite sex whenever you feel comfortable enough in your new gender role to enter one. If you can’t truly pass, people might be a little intrigued, but transsexuals generally aren’t going to be blatant about the fact that they were born with incorrect chromosomes, and are usually making every effort to pass, so it might just seem like a feminine guy or a rather tall girl. So really, it’s just a matter of when you yourself feel like you pass well enough to go in there and blow your nose, or wash your hands, or do whatever it is you need to do.</p>
<p>It does not seem odd to me that there are articles. Chaz is said to be a gay rights activist. Someone in that position doesn’t necessarily keep such matters private. He “came out” twenty years ago and now his transition is also public. He doesn’t lead a life as a totally private person if he is a public advocate on issues related to this. It is obviously a choice to be public about it.</p>
<p>Well, when you think about it, no parent really knows how their kid will turn out and what they will do with their lives and what kind of person they will become. Some change gender. Some do bad things. Some become famous. And so on.</p>
<p>I remember her also as a small child, my heart does break for him, because a personal decision has become public due to the parents. I hope that he will now be able to enjoy life. I also pray that the surgery has no complications.</p>
<p>The article clearly states that this doesn’t imply there is any surgery involved and that the majority of transgendered people do not go through with actual surgery but simply change the gender with which they identify and wish to be viewed.</p>
<p>“Transgender” is a bit of an umbrella term, but here they are saying that she is transitioning from female to male, which basically means she will be a transsexual/transman. It is very difficult to live as a transsexual without surgery–not in terms of what other people think of you ,but what you think of yourself. I’m willing to bet that she’s going to get a mastectomy at some point, but as the article says, she is in the early stages now. But hormones usually aren’t enough to ensure credible passing on a day-to-day basis, especially for male-to-female transsexuals, who often need facial feminization surgery. I believe the quote in the article has more to do with financial issues than a personal choice, although that is in many situations the case. However, the transgendered community is sometimes not at the same socioeconomic level as the general population, and one must also take into account the prohibitive costs of these surgeries.</p>
<p>This is like this boy/girl in my class. Freshman and sophomore year, she was Sarrah. Come junior year, she’s Spencer. If you call her a female, she, her, anything related to a girl, she’ll get mad (most kids call her a her or a him when he’s not there…we use it interchangeably b/c we don’t really understand it too much). It’s odd. He has a gf which confuses us b/c she’s a straight edge Christian but is dating a “technically still a girl.” I’m Christian too, and I disagree with it all but I’m not gonna be mean. They’re nice people. It’s just a little odd for teachers to deal with, but they call him Spencer.</p>
<p>TMZ website put a spin on this story. Supposedly, Chas (Chaz) has been in a committed relationships for years in California. As a woman, she can’t marry her significant other. If she transgenders and the court grants the official and legal gender change from woman to man, then Chaz can legally marry her/his significant other. Usually, the court considers the change after the removal of breasts. Further surgery isn’t needed to make the legal gender change possible.</p>