I Hope You Dance

There was an avalanche of negative reaction at the announcement of Chaz Bono as a contestant on the upcoming Dancing with the Stars. It seems there are a number of folks out there who actually believe that allowing a transgendered individual to dance on a television show will somehow threaten their idea of what America is.

Oh, I shouldn’t have been surprised. There are plenty of small minded and mindlessly mean people in this world. I’ve known more than a few. It’s just that I figured out as a preteen that all people are equal and have the right to believe what they like and live how they choose. What can I tell you? It makes it hard for me to accept such ignorance.

It especially irks me that many of these people take this stance in the name of Christianity. Before I officially became a non-denominational spiritualist, I was Catholic, which IS a form of Christianity. I seem to remember being taught that Christians were supposed to love and not judge their fellow man. Furthermore, I know plenty of real Christians who do just that. So people who use Christianity to defend their hatred of and discrimination against anyone who lives or believes differently than they do not only aren’t really Christians themselves, they are giving a bad name to the good, decent, authentic Christians out there.

People may accuse me of being open-minded to the extreme. Guilty as charged, I’m afraid. Despite this, I never fully understood why people would actually go to the extreme of physically changing their gender. Maybe it is just because the idea of elective surgery is a foreign concept to me. I pretty much limit my surgical procedures to those that are absolutely necessary. Transgendered surgery always seemed such an extreme measure and so very final.

Because of Chaz Bono, I finally get it. He was of course born as a girl named Chastity to Sonny and Cher. As an adult, Chastity came out as a lesbian and was an active gay rights activist. I never had a problem with Chastity Bono but never felt a particular affinity for her either. Then she decided to undergo transgender surgery and became Chaz.

I have not seen the documentary or read Chaz’ book about his journey, but I have seen him on several talk shows. I like Chaz VERY much. He is warm, engaging, intelligent and articulate. It struck me that as Chastity he LITERALLY was uncomfortable in his own skin. I admire that he is making his process so public, and I believe that he is sincerely doing so in an effort to help others, to increase awareness and understanding of transgendered individuals. I appreciate his wit, his candor and his bravery.

Of course, every action has an equal and opposite reaction (and people think I don’t know anything about physics). There were lots of people, including his professional dance partner Lacey Schwimmer, who spoke up supporting Chaz and his right to participate in a televised ballroom dancing competition.

And his mama Cher also took to the internet, mouse ablazing, to defend her offspring. Cher basically said that what Chaz was doing took guts and these haters should give him a chance. She said that no matter how old you or they get, you still don’t stand by and let people mess with your children. Although I’m pretty sure she didn’t originally use the word “mess.” Ah, it was good to hear from Cher again. Chaz thanked his mom and everyone else for their support, and just said that all negative response had made him determined to work harder on his dancing.

So if Chaz Bono wants to dance on DWTS, I say he should go for it. I hope he dances presentably, has some fun and wins some people over with that great personality of his. I’m rooting for him, and am looking forward to seeing Cher cheering him on in the audience.