Chaz Bono's upcoming dancing
performance on Dancing with the Stars could confuse kids, Fox
News' Keith Ablow asserts.
Dr. Ablow, a psychiatrist and
contributor to the conservative outlet, warns parents not to let
their impressionable children watch the upcoming season of ABC's
Dancing with the Stars, because the reality series will
include Bono, the child of gay icon Cher and the late
entertainer-politician Sonny Bono. Bono is a transgender man.
In an op-ed published Friday titled
Don't
Let Your Kids Watch Chaz Bono On 'Dancing With The Stars,'
Ablow says Bono should be treated with dignity and his contributions
should be applauded.
He then adds: “Chaz Bono should not
be applauded for asserting she is a man (and goes about trying to
look like one) any more than a woman who believes she will be happier
without arms, has them removed and then continues to assert that she
was right all along – her self-concept was that of a double
amputee. Now, all is well.”
“Chaz Bono should not be applauded
any more than someone who, tragically, believes that his species,
rather than gender, is what is amiss and asks a plastic surgeon to
build him a tail of flesh harvested from his abdomen. If only a
plastic surgeon would acquiesce, all would be well.”
Earlier
in the week, the 42-year-old author-activist refused to back out
of the dancing contest amid calls for a boycott of the show over its
casting. (Conservatives were also fuming at the inclusion of openly
gay fashion expert Carson Kressley.)
Ablow insisted children watching the
show could be harmed: “So, here it is. One psychiatrist's
prescription, sure to cost me a lot of hate mail, but reward me with
the certainty that I am stating what I believe to be true and that I
am doing my job: If you care about our kids, don't let them watch
Dancing with the Stars starring Chaz Bono.”
(Related: Cher
defends Chaz Bono from offended Dancing
with the Stars
viewers.)