There is a buzz once again about Dancing With the Stars. It revolves around Chaz Bono, the son of Cher who recently underwent gender reassignment surgery. The transition from female to male was described in his documentary “Becoming Chaz”, which both raised eyebrows and attracted praise for bravery. Chaz is scheduled to dance with a woman, Lacey Schwimmer and there are some who are less than thrilled with this development.
The argument of groups like OneMillionMoms.com has vocally voiced outrage at the producers of DTWS having a transgender individual dancing. On their website** they directly ask people to boycott the show and to write to the show’s executives to tell them it is unacceptable for children to watch a transgender individual dancing with a woman. They are not the only group upset and as a result Chaz’s participation in DWTS. They fear his presence on the show will expose children to a lifestyle alternative that they are not in agreement with.
The most compelling part of this unfolding drama is a very succinct and direct revelation. It begs the simplest of questions. Why do groups like these ask shows to remove what they do not approve of? A simple solution exists to protect their children and to allow their values to stay in check. They should simply not watch the show. The other very logical question is even simpler. Children would likely not know that the individual dancing with Lacey Schwimmer was in fact a female at one time. Very few kids today know who Cher is. Even fewer know she had a daughter who has undergone surgery to change her sexual identity. If they still wanted to watch the show, they could simply leave out that piece of information.
Perhaps the logic of simplicity boils down to people’s own comfort level with situations that lay outside of their own beliefs. However, living in a country like the United States which places such a high value on acceptance of all peoples, it is shocking that we still can’t leave that which we do not agree with alone. Get your dancing shoes on Chaz, have fun with it and wear whatever outfit you think makes your dancing stand out.