Fox News host Megyn Kelly has called
Dr. Keith Ablow's attacks on Chaz Bono “irresponsible.”
Ablow, a psychiatrist and contributor
to Fox News, warned 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 last week 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.”
During an appearance on Bill O'Reilly,
Kelly reiterated earlier comments that Ablow was off-based with his
remarks, telling O'Reilly that they were “irresponsible and
dangerous and could result in some real problems.”
“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 in this
country that will react to a transgender person when they see one at
McDonald's or at some event and that's irresponsible,” Kelly said.
(The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)