“I couldn’t [transition] privately. So I could either have done it and people would have known, and other people would have written about it, and it wouldn’t be the truth. Or I could do it myself and try to help people and put a face on an issue people don’t understand. Obviously the transgender movement has not progressed in the way that the gay and lesbian movement has. But I’m an activist — that’s just the kind of person I am.”
“This journey wasn’t just about transitioning; it was a journey of coming to understand myself, learning how to take care of myself, putting my fears away and putting my needs as a priority instead of concerning myself with what everyone else thought. It’s, essentially, really about growing up.”
“I thought that transgender people must have felt much worse than I did in order to risk losing all the things that one can lose by transitioning. Until I really accepted this about myself and got over any of my own transphobia that I had, I really felt like I wouldn’t be accepted. I thought I would ruin my life. I thought it was, ‘Be yourself but become a pariah and put your family through hell,’ or, ‘Don’t be yourself and live a horribly uncomfortable existence where everybody relates to you in a way that’s not you.’ ”
“My hope is that by allowing people to [see me transitioning], they’re going to see that I’m just kind of a regular guy,” he said. “And that being transgender and transitioning isn’t the craziest thing in the world.”
– Chaz Bono, explaining his reasons for transitioning (which runs contrary to Camille Paglia’s armchair theorizing about the causes of Chaz’s unhappiness)
Via Bilerico
EDITOR’S NOTE: I fucked up Chaz’s pronoun in an earlier version. Feel free to crucify me.
Harri
HER?!
How many other people who describe themselves as ‘just a regular guy’ would you refer to as ‘her’?
JanisBing
‘Her’ unhappiness? You guys missed the point. Again.
Yccallmejulie
Come on! “Her unhappiness”, “hers reasons” ?? Is it a joke?
Tom
It’s really sad to see a queer blog using “her” when talking about a transgender man. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Marika
You know, I thought when Queerty changed hands, you guys might actually start doing things like proofreading, and becoming sensitive to trans issues.
Apparently not.
Jeffree
Ouch!
Chaz deserves better than to be misgendered.
C’mon Queerty, lets make sure this is a safe, understanding & welcoming site for our trans sisters and brothers. And intersex plus transitioning people as well.
We need to step up our game here. Camille Paglia is not a role model, so let’s not emulate her trasphobia, please.
Jeffree
Ooopers, I meant “transphobia”.
Fitz
I am as snarky as anyone, but the occasional pronoun error can probably be forgiven, if there is no ugliness behind it.
Mike
Sometimes people mix up pronouns of even people who aren’t transgendered. I do it. Give the guy a break.
Marika
No, there is really no excuse for messing up a pronoun when it’s used correctly within the quotes in the story…
Queerty is apparently still a bastion of unprofessional, shoddy “journalism”.
Chuck
Do you folks at Queerty realize that you still have Camille’s name misspelled?
no thanks
Give me a break. I am tired of gay blogs including trans issues. Our struggles are not the same. You do more damage to trans people by lumping them in with our gay issues than helping their cause.
I am a gay male and I don’t want to click through stories about transitioning or trans rights issues on a gay blog. I’m happy to do that on a trans blog, but to say that “queer” is a repository for all people who do things with their genitals that make Maggie Gallagher’s 50th chin erupt in anger is problematic at best.
Trans people take a back seat to gays in this model and it’s not right. Their struggle is so nuanced, so complex, so difficult to articulate; it makes me sad when I see stories about people who are trans next to stories about Davey Wavey or some bullshit.
Also, trans people, unless attracted to the sex they are transitioning to are heterosexual upon finishing their transition. What in the world do they have in common with gays and lesbians? Only that conservatives hate us, but that in and of itself requires that we build robust platforms separately and leverage our power together, not under the umbrella of “queer” but as equal parts seeking civil rights.
missanthrope
@no thanks:
You have no time to click through the average of one trans story a day that appears here (compared to about ten total on average) of trans stories yet you have enough time to write out a four paragraph missive about how you don’t like hearing about trans people and don’t want to be associated with them.
Nice to know where your priorites lie.
P.S. I’m bi and about half of my trans friends are either bi or gay. Your over-reaching generalizations about that sexualities of trans people are stereotypes (ie. 99% of trans people are het). Before you judge trans folk, you might want actually meet a few, it seems like you don’t know any and if you’ve met some, you haven’t taken much time to get to know them.
Ferdinand
This person spent years claiming to be a gay woman, although many people despised her for her publicity seeking (remember her condemnation of Ellen?) Now he claims to be a normal heterosexual man, who was never gay, and wants to be treated like every other heterosexual person (including many rights that gays don’t receive, isn’t that convenient) and still seeking the limelight and fawning adoration of sheep-like gays, despite having absolutely no discernible talent.
Bobo
Whoops! Pro-noun slip! Mistakes happen, I’ve done it before and felt like a complete idiot-jerk who would never be able to look my trans friends in the face again. Apologize, fix the mistake and move on. Using the wrong pronoun doesn’t make you transphobic, it’s what you do afterwards that matters. Don’t let it stop you from being a trans-ally, you are helping people fight the good fight, and thank you for your ongoing coverage of trans issues on this site.
Daniel
@Bobo: Thanks a lot, Bobo. It was a 4am slip. I recognize how important it is to get it right, especially if you want to be taken seriously as a trans-ally. But I noticed the mistake, corrected it ASAP and will continue covering trans issues, despite those who pile on over such errors.
Bronson Page
Who hasn’t made a pronoun error, and besides, it’s not just a transition for Chaz. It’s one for we fans and friends as well. Cut Daniel some slack, a girl can make a mistake now and then. 😉
mattsy
What about Chers feelings?
Steve
It seems most commentators are, more than anything, harping on Camille’s use of the word “mutilated.” When used in a headline, it does sound negative, but objectively it describes a simple fact (in the same way cosmetic surgery and body piercing are forms of mutilation). If you don’t believe it, once the Demerol wears off, your body will set you straight! I agree that we can do with our bodies as we wish, but there are still risks, and before going under the knife we’d better make sure it’s worth it!
JudeThom
I am gay but this whole transgender thing is sick.
Chaz Bono is fat and ugly. What a travesty. Poor Cher! Poor, poor Cher!
JudeThom
Chaz Bono is an out and out freak.
No amount of political correctness
will get me to change the truth of
this statement. Chaz Bono is a one
woman circus–and yes, she still is
a woman, a woman on steroids.
Poor Cher! Poor mother Cher!
The mother of a monster!