Sonnny & Cher's transgendered kid is on Letterman now.

[Kat45]

I didn't know that Chastity Bono became Chaz. Had no idea. It's a really interesting show as Dave is asking him about himself and learning what transgender actually is.

Edited to add: he appears to be on for the entire show.

[elleng]

1. Been on the news w/in past year (I think.) Yes, interesting.

How's he doing?

[Kat45]

2. He seems pretty well.

It's quite interesting listening to the conversation. Dave is being totally respectful and sincerely trying to understand exactly what a transgender person is. Chaz is trying to explain that gender identity is different than sexual orientation (gay or straight).

[defendandprotect]

14. Wait -- last I heard their daughter was a lesbian .... so I've missed a bunch ....

Are you saying "he" is now naturally transgender --

or was there an operation or something?

And does anyone in the GLBT community have any idea of what percentage of

births transgender represents?

I know hetereosexual couples have a 30% chance of having a homosexual child --

[HERVEPA]

17. Where in the world did you get the 30% number? Any documentation?

Do you mean any given child of a hetero couple has a 30% chance, or if they have 3 kids there's a 30% chance one will be, or what?

[defendandprotect]

18. Well, don't think the odds increase with each new birth ---

the way I took it was -- whether you had one child or 6 -- overall a hetero

couple had a 30% chance of having a homosexual child.

Heard that a long time ago -- maybe on one of the documentaries?

But, I'll let you know if I can find anything on the internet on that --


Edited to add can't even get close to that on Yahoo -- they'll only take a

question which suggests that hetero's adopted a homosexual child!

And you can't even get a reliable answer on percentage of homosexuals in our society --

Homosexuality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
... the occurrence of exclusive homosexuality range from one to twenty percent of the population ... that "while genes predisposing to homosexuality reduce homosexuals ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality - Cached


Imagine it's a big number -- but given the decades of oppression of homosexuals behind us

and still ongoing, certainly that gives an incomplete answer.

So -- don't think the issue I raised would be easy to come by on the internet --

Think we have to go back to Kinsey's chart which I think is probably accurate --

but we rarely really discuss the implications of it --

we barely even acknowledge bi-sexuality -- !!


Here's Kinsey's Chart --

http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/resources/ak-hhscale.html

Hetero and Homosexual are the two EXTREMES --

Everyone else is the vast middle!!

But when you say ... "homosexual" child 30% chance -- what does that actually mean?

Exclusively homosexual -- or simply 80% sexually-oriented towards homosexuality?



:)

[LibGranny]

25. Chaz had his breasts removed - he's unsure of penile creation.

the OWN has a documentary on him.

[LynneSin]

26. From what I read, Chaz has had the full transformation

but I could be wrong.

[Kat45]

27. What LibGranny said is correct.

Chaz said the lower-body transformation is not very good at this time so he hasn't decided to do it yet.

[hlthe2b]

3. I think Cher has really really tried to be supportive...

embracing Chastity's lesbianism and now Chaz' transgender identity. She's been honest about the struggle for her (and her failings at times), but really has tried. I can't help but wonder how Sonny would have accepted Chaz.

I really hope Chaz can be happy and at peace with himself now.

[patrice]

4. Tks!

[Tx4obama]

5. There was a big interview on Oprah's new network OWN last night

Chaz was there with his girlfriend, they talked about the new documentary and they also showed clips from the new documentary.
The two guys that did the documentary were in the audience, also Chaz's aunt.
I didn't catch all of it but it was really interesting.

[flvegan]

6. I can't express how happy I am for this.

Chaz is really spelling it out. This is information.

[Kat45]

8. Definitely.

He's teaching us about something many of us don't understand very well. And it's great that it's on network television show, which probably has a pretty good-sized audience.

[flvegan]

19. Agreed.

And is matter of fact about telling folks how it is. And Dave, gotta love him, is letting him talk while educating himself and others.

[a kennedy]

24. I saw him on Oprah and just felt so happy for him, he seemed

so at peace with who HE is......so happy for him.

[johnnie]

7. This is a really good interview

It's interesting that Chaz talks of the differences between being a woman then a man. It makes you wonder about a lot of things that men get shit for. Like when he said that now his girlfriend gets more frustrated because now he can be an asshole.

[Kat45]

10. Yes, Dave is actually a really good interviewer.

I'm not sure if everyone realizes that. I also found that comment interesting.

[johnnie]

11. That's one thing that always got me a bit irked here

There are a lot of us who would like to understand better and sometimes honest questions bring hostility. I liked the way that Chaz let Dave ask and he answered without being defensive. I hope a lot of people got to see that interview.

[SoCalDem]

22. Dave was the ONLY interviewer who pressed GW in an interview

and did not offer "marshmallow" questions like the supposedly "real" media did..

[Initech]

9. I might have to watch this later.

[glinda]

12. I was so very happy to see this. Am glad Dave gave him the whole show. What happened to KO?

[Zebedeo]

13. One thing I honestly do not understand . . .

Was Chaz's girlfriend a lesbian prior to Chaz's sex change? Is she still a lesbian? If so, how is she going to continue in a relationship with Chaz, now that he is male? Or did the girlfriend become heterosexual at the same time Chaz changed genders?

I am not trying to be dense about this. I really do not understand how this would work.

[kickysnana]

16. She calls herself bi-sexual

But has not had a heterosexual relationship after age 20..til now.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

21. well... the "parts" haven't changed

I guess the partner can just tell herself whatever she wishes.

[eShirl]

23. maybe their relationship transcends gender and genitals

it could happen

[Warren DeMontague]

15. Honestly, the weirdest part about this entire story

is naming your kid "Chastity".

I remember thinking that in the 70s.

[canetoad]

20. David Bowie's boy

Zowie Bowie (b. 1971) is now a pretty handy director and calls himself Duncan Jones. Not much that happened in the 70s surprised me.