Chaz Bono's dancing partner on Dancing with the Stars, Lacey Schwimmer, and lawyer Gloria Allred say the fuss over Bono's appearance on the reality dancing competition is overblown.

“To me it's ridiculous,” Schwimmer told HLN's Dr. Drew. “I mean, he's just like everybody else. I think people just need to let him be happy and dance on a little TV show. It's not a big deal.”

Schwimmer's comments come after several op-eds weighed in on the issue. Fox News contributor Keith Ablow warned parents not to let their children watch the dancing competition, because it would lead to confusion, while Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper said there wasn't much to worry about.

Author-activist Bono is the child of gay icon Cher and the late entertainer-politician Sonny Bono. Bono is a transgender man.

In his column, Ablow suggests Bono should not be applauded for “asserting she is a man … 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.”

Ablow's op-ed comes amid a firestorm of protest. Bono, 42, has already refused to back out of the dancing contest amid calls for a boycott of the show and its advertisers over its casting. (Conservatives are also fuming at the inclusion of openly gay fashion expert Carson Kressley.)

During an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America, Bono said: “I'm going to be dancing. I'm not up there talking about anything other than dancing. People who don't have gender dysphoria aren't going to catch it by watching me dance on television.”

On Wednesday's Dr. Drew, civil rights attorney Gloria Allred said she planned to dance with transgender people at a viewing party on the night of the show's premiere.

“I think it's outrageous that some people who, I think, may be not as well educated as they could be, are calling for children not to be able to watch Chaz on Dancing with the Stars,” Allred said.

“In response to that, we are having national viewing parties, we're going to have dance parties and have one right here in LA. And I'm going to dance with every person who would like to dance with me on September 19 when the show airs, who has transitioned from a female to a male, or transitioned from male to female or anyone else!” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)