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Stories tagged with “Chaz Bono”

NEWS FLASH

Chaz Bono Responds To Fox News Critics During Jay Leno Appearance | Chaz Bono briefly addressed his conservative critics during last night’s appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, who described claims that the transgender advocate would confuse children as “moronic.” For his part, Bono reiterated that “obviously if you don’t have gender dysphasia, you’re not going to watch me want want to change your sex” and added, “If I had seen somebody on TV like that when I was growing up, it would have made all the difference in the world to me”:

NEWS FLASH

The Daily Show: Chaz Isn’t The Threat On DWTS…Nancy Grace Is | On last night’s The Daily Show, Jon Stewart came to the defense of Chaz Bono, pointing out that Nancy Grace’s wardrobe malfunction is a much greater threat to children than seeing “a man named Chaz dance on a show.” He chided Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy for their “7th grade” attacks on Bono, saying, “The fucking guy hurt his knee and you’re still trying to take his lunch money, huh, Kilmeade? You had your shot guys: For one shining moment, you weren’t the biggest boobs on television.” Watch it:

LGBT

Fox & Friends Recoil At Chaz Bono: ‘No I Can’t’ Talk About That’

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Sep 27, 2011 at 5:20 pm

When ABC announced that Chaz Bono, son of Cher and Sonny Bono, would compete on “Dancing With the Stars,” Fox News’ “Medical A-Team” psychiatrist Keith Ablow launched into a hateful and ignorant crusade against the transgender activist, calling him a “very disordered person” and saying his presence on the popular show would poison young people’s gender identities. To her credit, Fox host Megyn Kelly thoroughly admonished and debunked Ablow on her show and during a segment with Fox headliner Bill O’Reilly. But this morning, the conservative network got mired in transphobia again when the crew of Fox & Friends appeared pained at the mere mention of Bono’s name. Bono had a disappointing performance in last night’s episode due to a knee injury, and the Fox morning crew couldn’t even bring themselves to discuss it, transcript via Gawker:

BRIAN KILMEADE: Steve, can you tell us more?

STEVE DOOCY: Uh, no, I can’t. [Laughs] Thank you very for that update.
GRETCHEN CARLSON: [Rubbing temples] Let’s talk about the Senate instead! That might take too long to explain to Steve, Brian, and the rest of the world.

KILMEADE: The one part of Chaz that hasn’t been operated on!

DOOCY: So far! [Laughter]

Watch it:

NEWS FLASH

Lewis Black Takes On Fox News’ Keith Ablow Over Chaz Bono | Comedian Lewis Black appeared on The Daily Show last night to discuss “threats” to America’s children. He dedicated half the segment to the “controversy” of Chaz Bono appearing on Dancing With The Stars, pointing out plenty of DWTS candidates who actually should have created controversy, but didn’t. He also said what everybody has already been thinking about Fox News’ Dr. Keith Ablow: “I don’t know if letting your kids watch Chaz Bono will turn them into transsexuals, but I’m pretty sure letting them watch Keith Ablow will turn them into assholes.” Watch it:

NEWS FLASH

Chaz Bono Says ‘DWTS’ Attacks Have Led To Inspiring Positive Response | Chaz Bono and his dance partner Lacey Schwimmer appeared on The Talk to discuss their premiere on Dancing With The Stars. Bono explained that they haven’t paid much attention to critics, but “the positive response we’ve gotten because of what the critics started has been so overwhelming that that’s been really inspirational.” Watch it:

(HT: AfterElton.)

NEWS FLASH

Chaz Bono’s DWTS Debut: ‘You Do Not Disappoint!’ | After weeks of pointless transphobic controversy, Chaz Bono made his debut last night on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, introducing himself as an “author, activist, and public speaker,” as well as the show’s first transgender contestant. After he received a standing ovation for his Cha Cha with partner Lacey Schwimmer, the judges told him, “You do not disappoint! Chazzy boy, you can dance! You have great footwork! It was sharp, it was precise!” and, “Cheeky but so cute and cuddly! So joyous out here! You should be proud!” Watch Chaz’s debut:

LGBT

Fox News’ Keith Ablow: Being Transgender Is ‘An Exact Parallel’ To Anorexia, Heroin Addiction

By Igor Volsky on Sep 20, 2011 at 11:33 am

During an appearance on Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor, Fox News’ Dr. Keith Ablow doubled down on his argument that Chaz Bono’s appearance on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars will encourage children to change their gender. “You have someone who is not a man, asserting that he is a man and the bottom line is that this can kindle people who are having trouble with their identities: adolescents, tom-boys, boys who are effeminate into thinking, ‘you know what, maybe I’m not just those things, maybe I should go the whole way,” he said.

Ablow, who yesterday resigned from the American Psychiatric Association because they disagree with him, also compared being transgender to anorexia and heroin addiction:

ABLOW: We wouldn’t invite people with anorexia to go on fashion shows and talk about how wonderful they feel now that they’re thinner…this is an exact parallel. [...] Take the heroin dependent people, put them on TV with their drug paraphernalia and have them speak about how happy they are.

Watch it:

LGBT

Megyn Kelly Doubles Down: Attacks Against Chaz Bono Could Lead To Persecution Of Transgender People

By Igor Volsky on Sep 16, 2011 at 11:21 am

Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly stepped up her criticism of Dr. Keith Ablow’s attacks against Chaz Bono, Cher’s transgender son who will compete on the 13th season of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars. During an appearance on Bill O’Reilly yesterday, Kelly characterized Ablow’s claims that children will develop gender confusion after watching him on national television as “irresponsible and dangerous and could result in some real problems.” Kelly had challenged Ablow on her daytime show on Wednesday.

“There is no scientific evidence to back that up and in fact…the experts in this field say Ablow is way off base,” Kelly claimed and suggested that Ablow’s words will lead to the persecution of transgender people:

KELLY: Listen, this group of people already undergoes enough discrimination and isolation…

O’REILLY: We have this this slippery slope argument…

KELLY: No, don’t talk over it Bill.

O’REILLY: I’m not talking over it, I got to get to another…

KELLY: This group of people is persecuted already and now you have Dr. Ablow telling people that if your kid sees one in a manner that is something akin to a celebration, your kid may wind up being one of them. Now there are people int his country that will react to a transgender person when they see one at the McDonald’s or at some event and that’s irresponsible.

O’REILLY: You don’t know that they’re transgendered people. Alright.

Watch:

O’Reilly, meanwhile, seemed more concerned about questioning Ablow’s character than the safety of transgender people. After all, in 2010 he compared transgender people to Ewoks, saying, “If you’re a man, you can’t dress like a woman, and vice versa. You can’t scare the customers. If your name is Fred, you can’t look like Dolly Parton.”

NEWS FLASH

Bono On Ablow: ‘He’s Not One Of My Favorite Authors So I Don’t Read Him’ | Joy Behar had a lengthy conversation with Chaz Bono about his upcoming appearance on Dancing With The Stars and the transphobic scrutiny he’s faced for it. In response to the many attacks he’s gotten from Dr. Keith Ablow of the Fox News Medical A-Team, Chaz explained, “I didn’t read it. He’s written a few things about me. He’s not one of my favorite authors so I don’t read him. [...] It doesn’t hurt my feelings at all. He’s got an agenda and he’s jumping all over this to further himself and his career.” Watch it:

Alyssa

Megyn Kelly Debunks Gay-Bashing Psychiatrist’s ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Theories

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Sep 14, 2011 at 3:39 pm

Dr. Keith Ablow has a long and nasty record of saying unpleasant and inaccurate things about sexual orientation, gender identity, and the media. He’s insulted Chaz Bono, calling him a “very disordered person”; speculated darkly that a J. Crew ad will sow widespread gender confusion among children; and declared that prison normalizes homosexuality. As my colleagues at ThinkProgress have repeatedly pointed out, it’s an embarrassment that a serious news network would give this much space and airtime to someone whose idea have as much science behind them as patent medicine.

But Ablow’s association with the network does mean we got to see his colleague Megyn Kelly, who periodically pops up to say something awesome about, say, the medieval state of maternity leave in the United States, absolutely dismantle Ablow’s claims that Bono’s participation in Dancing With the Stars will convince legions of American children that they’re not comfortable with the gender they were born into (and also that transitioning is like giving liposuction to an anorexic):

While I don’t think that anyone’s going to switch their gender identity because Chaz Bono is a public figure appearing on a dance show, I’d stop short of saying it’s a totally neutral act. If the somewhat older audience for Dancing With the Stars watches the show and realizes that Chaz Bono is just another guy going through the same process of making himself vulnerable and awkward as all the other candidates, and as a result, feels like transgender people are a little less foreign, that strikes me as a pretty good thing.

It would be wonderful if Fox didn’t credential Ablow by counting him as part of their medical team. But I do think there’s real value in giving folks who believe the same noxious, fictional things that he does some airtime so they can be exposed as the hateful frauds they are. Good for Megyn Kelly for pointing out just how specious his theories about media influence are, and even more importantly, asking, “Isn’t there enough hate?” And good for Bono for refusing to give Fox interviews and refusing to play Fox’s two-faced game, bashing people one day and expecting them to play nice the next.

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