Chaz Bono
Chaz Salvatore Bono[1] (born Chastity Sun Bono; March 4, 1969) is an American writer, musician and actor. His parents are entertainers Sonny Bono and Cher, and he became widely known in appearances as a child on their television show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.[2][3]
Chaz Bono
Bono is out as a trans man. In 1995, while then presenting as a woman, and several years after being outed as lesbian by the tabloid press, Bono publicly self-identified as a lesbian in a cover story in a leading American gay monthly magazine, The Advocate. Bono eventually went on to discuss the process of coming out to oneself and others in two books. Family Outing: A Guide to the Coming Out Process for Gays, Lesbians, and Their Families (1998) includes his coming-out account. The memoir The End of Innocence (2003) discusses his outing, music career, and partner Joan's death from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.[4]
Between 2008 and 2010, Bono sought out gender-affirming care, commonly called gender transition. A two-part Entertainment Tonight feature in June 2009 explained that his medical transition had started a year before.[5] In May 2010, he legally changed his ID to match his gender and name.[6] A documentary on Bono's experience, Becoming Chaz, was screened at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and later made its television debut on the Oprah Winfrey Network.[7][8]
Transition
In mid-2008, Bono began undergoing a physical and social transition from female to male. This was confirmed in June 2009 by his publicist,[5] who identified Bono's name as Chaz Bono and said, "It is Chaz's hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his coming out did."[21] GLAAD and the Empowering Spirits Foundation were quick to offer praise and support for the announcement.[22] Bono's legal transition was completed on May 6, 2010, when a California court granted his request for a gender and name change.[6][23] Bono made Becoming Chaz, a documentary film about his transition that premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The Oprah Winfrey Network acquired the rights to the documentary and debuted it on May 10, 2011.[24]
In September 2011, he became a competitor on the 13th season of the U.S. version of Dancing with the Stars, paired with professional ballroom dancer Lacey Schwimmer.[25] The duo was eliminated on October 25, 2011.[26] This was the first time an openly transgender man starred on a major network television show for something unrelated to being transgender.[27]
His book, Transition: Becoming Who I Was Always Meant to Be was published in 2012, making him the first person of Armenian descent to publish a memoir about being an openly transgender man.[28]