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Cher Discusses Her Former Daughter's Sex Change With Letterman (VIDEO)

by Oliver Miller, posted Nov 12th 2010 5:05AM

Cher Discusses Her Former Daughter's Sex Change With LettermanCher is a legendary singer, actress and long-time advocate for gay rights. She had one child with former husband Sonny Bono -- daughter Chastity Sun Bono, who was named after Cher's first dramatic film role in the 1969 flop 'Chastity,' where she played a bisexual.

Daughter Chastity came out as a lesbian many years ago, and following a sex-change operation, she changed her name to Chaz Salvatore Bono. Cher fully supports Chaz, who was legally declared a man this past May. But on 'Late Show' (weeknights, 11:35PM ET on CBS), she and David Letterman puzzled through how to refer to her child.

"This a, uh, uh, uh, a child that you and Sonny Bono had together," Dave said, struggling to use the right term. He added that he was asking about the topic because he was "ignorant about many things." "I know!" Cher joked in reply. The host continued to stutter while asking another question: "She was -- was -- was not a lesbian, was a lesbian?" Cher responded by saying that Chaz is still a lesbian. Dave then tried to clarify: " ... She's a male lesbian." There was confused pause as Letterman and Cher figured out how that would work.

The mom and the talk show host both supported Chaz's choice. They just got confused about the correct terms to use. "She's comfortable [with her gender] now," Dave said, before instantly correcting himself: "He's comfortable now." Cher also mistakenly called Chaz a woman, though Chaz is legally a male. "She has a beautiful girlfriend," the mother said, making an innocent error while cutely bragging about her kid's dating skills.

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Jessica

Name, you don't know anything about this at all. You are looking at it in a very simplistic way. You are right about 1 thing, surgery on genitals doesn't technically change your sex or DNA. But the last thing a trans-person cares about is somebody yelling "hey!! Look at that girls DNA!!!" when walking down the street. The point is to finally feel free when looking in the mirror. Look at the suicide rates, depression and the destructive behavior that is attached to somebody who is repressing these feelings and simply transitioning cures a lot of these. It's all in the research by people who know more then you, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Oh, and just a tip, don't get your medical knowledge from cartoons. In closing, just because you couldn't stand the thought of changing your gender appearance, don't think that everyone feels that way. That's like saying you hate people with cancer just because you don't have it.

November 13 2010 at 1:40 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
D.

These operations are just disgusting and what kind of people would want something this sick done to them? All the people who have "sex change" operations aren't even actually changing their genders, all the surgery does is make a man or woman look more like the opposite gender. South Park actually got something right on that "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" episode with the fact that these operations just mutilate people's crotches.

November 12 2010 at 9:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to D.'s comment
Hayden

Name,

You are clearly an ignorant individual. As a biologist, I will lay this down to you very simply. Encoded in an individuals genetic messages are patterns in which will tell how a certain person will develop as they age.

Certain codes are sequenced in a bit of a deformity within certain individuals, giving a different mindset for which their bodies cannot control. In some cases these individuals are merely hermaphrodites(where they exhibit more XXY chromosomes) and in some cases they merely have the mindset of a certain sex.

As Jessica said, they aren't changing their DNA, but they are changing the way society perceives them and this is due to a personal choice and to free themselves from the embodiment of a gender that they do not feel they are.

This is a mental disorder of sorts. Which is why, under many circumstances, individuals go through what is known as gender counseling, so that they can speak with a professional psychologist/psychiatrist to determine whether or not their mindset is truly that of an opposite gender, or if they are infact merely afraid of being homosexual. (WHICH IS THE CASE IN SOME INSTANCES)

I would not appreciate a reply stating that homosexuality is wrong, because I could go back to genetics with that statement. Frequency for homosexuality is a scientific fact, and a certain amount of individuals will always exhibit those traits. There are some homosexuals that choose to be, due to free will, but there are truly some that cannot help it. Take dolphins and other mammalia for example. Their brains are very different than our own, correct? Why is it that they also exhibit homosexual tendencies within a certain statistical data? Because it is a frequency of deformities within a genetic sequence.

However, I believe that transgender individuals are FAR from disgusting. If you are within the LBGT community, you should agree with me. If you do not agree with me, then you are either close minded, or merely ignorant to any scientific data in general.

Also that being said, I wish to not offend anyone when I say a deformity. It is merely a choice of words for something out of the normal; something abnormal if you will. (I say abnormal because the majority of statistics is heterosexual mating tendencies)

ALSO "NAME" you should think before you speak next time. Going back to my earlier statement of hermaphrodites; you do not know anyones personal business. They could easily be hermaphrodites, and you should assume such. Biologically speaking, if one was a hermaphrodite and had a certain gender(as most of them do. Hermaphrodites are much more common than you think, and many don't even realize they are one until they are given tests) that they felt uncomfortable with; would you be giving the same attitude? I should hope not. That being said, gender assigning or gender reassigning surgery is NOT disgusting. It is merely a coping mechanism. Why would anyone want to live the rest of their lives within the wrong genders body?

It is not disgusting. It's much better than mass depression and suicide.

I feel sorry for your children if they turn out to be one of the gender confused youth struggling with society's conformity standards.

Hayden

November 23 2010 at 8:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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