I FELT SOME pressure to get this story into the paper before Chaz Bono got axed from ABC's "Dancing with the Stars."
He's not the most polished dancer, but I really hope Bono lasts on the wildly popular show because the transsexual son of singer/actress Cher and the late Sonny Bono is so much fun to watch. Plus, every flash of his smile is a slap at the haters and those who are urging a boycott of the show because they're afraid Bono might confuse their children.
Of course, gender dysmorphia isn't contagious. And Bono has lots of local fans rooting for him, among them Dr. Sherman Leis, an internationally known expert in gender reassignment surgery who met Bono last year at the Southern Comfort Conference, which focuses on the transgender community. That's how Leis wound up being featured in Bono's recent documentary, "Becoming Chaz," which aired earlier this year on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network.
After Leis' speech at the conference, the two chatted.
"I did sort of a mini-consult with him there," Leis told me. "Unbeknownst to me, he was sitting in the audience listening to my lecture on female-to-male top and bottom surgery, female-to-male gender reassignment surgery. He had some people with him who were taping the entire lecture. After my talk, I met Chaz, who had some questions about some of the things that I spoke about."
I recently caught up with Leis at his office in a nondescript building just off Montgomery Avenue on a quiet Bala Cynwyd street. We talked about Bono's performance on "Dancing with the Stars" which has prompted Fox News contributor Keith Ablow and the American Family Association to advise parents to keep their children from watching.
"Why would they boycott? I think that's ridiculous. Anyone who can dance, who wants to dance . . . what difference does it make what their gender is or what it was? Everyone has to complain about something and has to get on a bandstand and moan and groan about things. To me, it's ridiculous.
"Let him have the life he wants to live. People should let other people alone. As long they're not hurting anyone, let them have a life that they want to live and concern themselves with their own problems in life."
Q. Does it make you feel good to know that you're helping people who feel they've been born the wrong sex?
