Chaz Bono

Chaz Salvatore Bono (born March 4, 1969) is an American advocate, writer and musician. He is the only child of American entertainers Sonny Bono and Cher.

Bono is a transgender man. In 1995, several years after being outed as lesbian by the tabloid press, he publicly self-identified as such in a cover story in a leading American gay monthly magazine, The Advocate, eventually going on to discuss the process of coming out to oneself and to others in two books. Family Outing: A Guide to the Coming Out Process for Gays, Lesbians, and Their Families (1998) includes his coming out account. The memoir The End of Innocence (2003) discusses his outing, music career, and partner Joan's death from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Between 2008 and 2010, Bono underwent female-to-male gender transition. A two-part Entertainment Tonight feature in June 2009 explained that his transition had started a year before. In May 2010, he legally changed his gender and name. A documentary on Bono's experience, Becoming Chaz, was screened at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and later made its television debut on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.

Childhood
Chaz was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Cher and Sonny Bono of the pop duo "Sonny & Cher", stars of a TV variety show on which the young child often appeared. Bono was named after the film Chastity, which was produced by Sonny and in which Cher (in her first feature film) played a bisexual woman.

Bono recalls that he was a tomboy as a child, and when he made appearances with his parents on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, he insisted on being dressed to match his father rather than his mother. He first identified himself as a lesbian when he saw the film Personal Best at the age of thirteen.

Bono came out to both parents as lesbian at age 18. In Family Outing, Bono wrote that, "as a child, I always felt there was something different about me. I'd look at other girls my age and feel perplexed by their obvious interest in the latest fashion, which boy in class was the cutest, and who looked the most like cover girl Christie Brinkley. When I was 13, I finally found a name for exactly how I was different. I realized I was gay."

When he came out to her parents, his father was immediately supportive, while his mother went "ballistic for a few days" before beginning to accept the news.

Outing
Bono was outed as lesbian by the Star in January 1990. He was not ready to be out to the world and denied the tabloid's assertion. In April 1995, he voluntarily came out in an interview with The Advocate after a series of nonpublished meetings.

Musician
Chaz Bono began his career with a short-lived music career with her band, Ceremony.

Ceremony released one album, Hang Out Your Poetry, in 1993. The band featured Bono on vocals, acoustic guitar, and percussion. Other members were Heidi Shink a/k/a Chance, Pete McRae, Steve Bauman, Louis Ruiz, and Bryn Mathieu. All the songs except one were written or co-written by Bono, Heidi Shink, and Mark Hudson. There are no synthesizers or digital effects anywhere on the album.

We turned our back on technology. Everything you hear was played by humans. It's reminiscent of the 60s, but more a tip of the hat than emulating it. We took the music we love and rejuvenated it, made it 90's.

The song "Could've Been Love" was released as a single from the album. The album's other tracks are "Goodbye Sunshine", "Steal Your Heart", "Day by Day", "Ready for Love", "Ready for Love (Refrain)", "Hang Out Your Poetry", "Turn It Over", "Trust", "2 of 1", "First Day of My Life", "Breathless", "Living in a Paradise," and "Livin' It Up." Sonny and Cher also took a small part in recording the album: the last song includes vocals (uncredited) by Sonny Bono and Cher.

The album was not successful and the band was dropped by their record label (David Geffen's DGC).

Writer and activist
In April 1995, Bono came out as a lesbian in an interview with The Advocate, a national gay and lesbian magazine. The 1998 book Family Outing detailed how Bono's coming out "catapulted me into a political role that has transformed my life, providing me with affirmation as a lesbian, as a woman, and as an individual." In the same book, Bono reported that Cher, who was both a gay icon and an ally of LGBT communities, was quite uncomfortable with the news at first and "went ballistic" before coming to terms with it: "By August 1996, one year after I came out publicly, my mother had progressed so far that she agreed to 'come out' herself on the cover of The Advocate as the proud mother of a lesbian daughter." Cher has since become an outspoken LGBT rights activist.

Bono's paternal relationship became strained after Sonny became a Republican Congressman from California. The differences in their political views separated them, and the two had not spoken for more than a year at the time of Sonny's fatal skiing accident in January 1998.

Bono worked as a writer at large for The Advocate. As a social activist, Bono became a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, promoted National Coming Out Day, campaigned for the reelection of Bill Clinton for US President, campaigned against the Defense of Marriage Act, and served as Entertainment Media Director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Bono was a team captain for Celebrity Fit Club 3 (2006) and was supported by girlfriend Jennifer Elia, who orchestrated exercise and training sessions.

Bono was a participant of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club 3. This show is a celebrity fitness show that monitors weight loss. He went to the series after he expressed interest to both lose weight (he weighed 215 pounds (97.5 kg) at the start of the series) and quit smoking. While many felt Bono to be a front runner in at the start of the show, judging by his positive attitude, he lost less than half of his target for the show.

Transition
In mid-2008, Bono began undergoing a physical and social transition from female to male. This was confirmed in June 2009 by his publicist, who identified Bono's preferred name as Chaz Bono and said, "It is Chaz's hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his coming out did." GLAAD and the Empowering Spirits Foundation were quick to offer praise and support for the announcement. Bono's legal transition was completed on May 8, 2010, when a California court granted his request for a gender and name change. He chose the name "Chaz Salvatore Bono" in honor of his parents. Bono made Becoming Chaz, a documentary film about his transition that premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network acquired the rights to the documentary and debuted it on May 10, 2011.

In September 2011, he became a competitor on the 13th season of the US version of Dancing with the Stars, paired with professional ballroom dancer Lacey Schwimmer. The duo was eliminated October 25, 2011. This was the first time an openly transgender man starred on a major network television show for something unrelated to being transgender.

Books

 * Family Outing (with Billie Fitzpatrick) (1998) ISBN 0-316-10233-4
 * The End of Innocence: A Memoir (with Michele Kort) (2003) ISBN 1-55583-795-6
 * Transition: the story of how I became a man (with Billie Fitzpatrick) (2011). New York: Dutton. ISBN 978-0525952145
 * Transition: Becoming Who I Was Always Meant to Be (with Billie Fitzpatrick) (2012 paperback). Plume. pp. 272. ISBN 978-0452298002