Chaz Bono is an American transgender man that was born in 1969 to American entertainers Sonny Bono and Cher. He is an advocate, musician, writer, and actor. He began a short music career in 1988 and was a member of the band Ceremony, which released one album in 1993 entitled
Hang Out Your Poetry. The album was received with mixed reviews, being labeled by some as a "mildly psychedelic take on early 90's pop." I personally enjoy it. His parents even provided vocals on a few tracks. Before transitioning, Bono was outed as a lesbian in 1995. This event led to an interview for a cover story with leading monthly gay magazine,
The Advocate. In the interview, Bono self-identified as a lesbian and discussed the repercussions of being outed and brought awareness to the struggles of LGBT people in society.
Chaz has authored four books, the first of which is
Family Outing: A Guide to the Coming Out Process for Gays, Lesbians and Their Families which was published in 1998. The book details his process to coming out to his family and being publicly outed. In 2003, he released the memoir
The End of Innocence, which discusses more details of his outing, his music career and the death of his partner Joan who passed from non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He also has books detailing his transition.
In his first book, he explains how his mother Cher was initially very uncomfortable with Chaz's sexuality and identity, stating she "went ballistic". In 1996, Cher had come to terms with everything and is now a proud ally and activist of the LGBT community. He did not experience the same outcome with his father Sonny Bono. After Sonny became a Republican Congressmen the relationship deteriorated. Chaz's coming out as a lesbian had "catapulted me into a political role that has transformed my life, providing me with affirmation as a lesbian, as a woman, and as an individual." , and that differed greatly from his father's opinions and approach to public policy. The two hadn't spoken for over a year until Sonny's death in 1998 after a tragic skiing accident.
Bono has worked as a writer for
The Advocate, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, and Entertainment Media Director for GLAAD. He has campaigned for the re-election of Bill Clinton, against the Defense of Marriage Act, and promoted National Coming Out Day. He began his transition in 2008, which was confirmed by his publicist in 2009. Many advocates for transgender people praised the announcement and offered a wave of support. In 2010, he completed the legal part of his transition, changing his name to Chaz as well as his gender in court. In 2011 his documentary
Becoming Chaz premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Chaz has also appeared in a variety of television shows starting with reality tv. In his first show, he was a team captain in
Celebrity Fit Club 3. He was supported by his girlfriend who organized training sessions and exercises. After his transition, he was featured on the thirteenth season of
Dancing with the Stars, being paired with professional ballroom dancer Lacey Schwimmer. Although he was eliminated later in the season, he opened the door for transgender people on tv., as he was the first openly transgender man who starred in a major television network show for something unrelated to being transgender. In 2016 he made his acting debut on the tv series
American Horror Story and returned in 2017 to recur his role. He has since, discussed the difficulty of finding acting jobs as a transgender man attempting to play cisgender roles, and has criticized Hollywood for casting cisgender people in transgender roles.
Chaz was the first transgender person to bring the community massive media attention after the turn of the century, most of which was positive. His bravery will be cemented in our communities legacy forever.
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