Chaz Bono Steps Out With Girlfriend Jennifer Elia (PHOTOS)

Cher's son Chaz Bono made his first public appearance since announcing his female-male gender transition. Thursday he and girlfriend Jennifer Elia came to the 2009 Outfest film festival's opening night gala of 'La Mission' in LA.

Also there were some of the movie's stars, like Benjamin Bratt, whose brother Peter directed the San Francisco-set drama, and other supporters.

PHOTOS:

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Comments

[mfitz1214]

I guess Celebrity Fit Club doesn't work for everyone.

[GreenDayJohn]

She reminds me of Large Marge from Pee Wee Herman's big adventure!! She has Pee Wee's haircut too!! Very classy..

[AndyWright68]

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[fnygy]

Human sexuality is mysterious thing. It's very hard to determine the nature/nurture argument when it comes to anyone's sexuality. Suffice to say, it's really nobody's business what Mr. Bono decides to do with his gender. But, I have to say, I think it takes a great deal of courage to do what he's doing with so much public scrutiny.

[AntiSheep13]

It is the public's right to make comments and ask questions when she/he makes it a public issue as she/he has done.

[Klaus1]

I loved Chazz in "Ghostbusters"! You know, at the end of the film.

[henrythefifth]

Has Chaz/Chastity Bono ever done anything of merit w/ his/her life other than being born to famous people? Just curious why anyone cares about this.

[devildog21]

My question too.

[LA2000]

Here's how it works. Huffpost knows you will click on the story. It doesn't matter whether Chaz has done anything of note. If the media knows you want to click on the story, then its a story. If you click, they make money. If you don't click, its a non story. You and your clicks determine the underlying news value of the online media. Huffpost is just serving up a buffet of what it thinks you like. You are free not to click. When you don't click, the story withers away. See how it works?

You clearly aren't interested in Chazz, and yet here you are. Ask yourself why you clicked on a story you aren't interested in and there's your answer.

[AntiSheep13]

Her mom tried to keep her hidden from the media so she acted out in defiance by announcing to the world that she was gay. That's how she originally acquired some fame aside from when her birth was in the news. Now she/he has put herself in the media's eye once again, since she's chosen to parade her/his girlfriend and surgery.

[petalsbloom]

I will admit that I don't know much about Mr. Bono, aside from the fact that he's Sonny and Cher's son, but no matter how rebellious he was as their child, there is nothing to justify the statement that his coming out was mainly an act of defiance against his parents. His sexuality is not rooted in his fame, nor his upbringing as the child of celebrity. Rather, it comes from his biology and psychology. Many transgender people know from a very young age that they were meant to be part of the opposite sex; others come to the realization when they are older. I think he's chosen to "parade" his girlfriend and surgery to make a statement that he is proud to be transgender, and to "open the hearts and minds" of the public, rather than trying to acquire a permanent spot in the limelight. I appreciate that he is using his fame to illustrate one facet of the LGBTQ community not often portrayed in the mainstream media, and to help educate the public what it means to be transgender.

[sixletters]

Can someone answer a very simple question for me?

Why would a lesbian date someone who looks and acts exactly like a man and doesn't that suggest that this person is not actually attracted to women?

[HowietheScreamer]

Maybe she's bi?

[sixletters]

I don't think so. I don't believe there is a such thing as bi-sexual and many gay friends that I have had say the same thing. I guess the point I was trying to get at is that in virtually every lesbian couple that I have ever seen one of them is clearly trying to behave and look like man, so what does the say about the other one.

[Schvenzlerman]

Did I write that she has knife-and-fork disease?

[marcain]

She/he needs to grow a goatee.

[G-guy]

I think Judith Butler is very confused, or just selling a bad theory.

A woman who wants bigger breasts like Prejean is either insecure, vain, or never satisfied.
She may also want her brown hair dyed blond. She did that too.

Chastity, now known as Chazz, is different. A woman who desired women.
That's where it's confusing. Could have just been a lesbian. Was all her life, I expect.

Did she fall for a woman that wanted a man? So she had to switch?
Or is this just a woman who wanted to be seen as a man, beside desiring women?

As a heterosexual man, I'll never understand this. I just accept it. People are different.
Thing is, so many people today are born the same sex as the one that they desire.

The fact that I'm a man, with a male anatomy that was designed to fill the female's anatomy,
as a woman is designed to accommodate mine in mutual satisfaction is simply terrific.

I would not think it necessary for a woman to feel the need to alter or change anything about
herself artificially to make herself more attractive through surgical enhancements is silly.
All woman are desirable in their own way. Keeping herself fit, healthy, and in shape is enough.

There are so many beautiful woman in the world, inside and out. Mutual sexual fulfillment is so
easy to accomplish together. When I was single, and for years with my wife and partner, even more.

[fashionaddict]

I am always questioning this too. Why are lesbians attracted to women that look and act like men? And why do many gay men act like women? They are acting out the role of the opposite sex...doesn't this mean that everyone is really just attracted to a person who on the inside is the opposite sex with gays making an exception for the outside appearance? The fact that one partner in a lesbian relationship takes on the male role in a heterosexual relationship indicates that any relationship is still based on the traditional male/female roles. I believe there are two categories to why one is gay. The first being a result of external factors (victims of abuse, early exposure to sexuality, dissatisfaction from social experiences, etc) and the second, due to a biological mishap. It is the same as any other disease or disorder. Society teaches us to be accepting and tolerant and love those who have such conditions but the truth is that if you are born healthy you should grow up to be a positive contribution to society and ideally find a partner to be able to reproduce healthy offspring with. Whether a couple chooses to have children is not the issue. The issue is that they CAN and mankind can only continue with those of us who are able to reproduce. Hypothetically, if half the world became gays and lesbians, what would happen to mankind in the longrun?

[mbsq]

http://books.google.com/books?id=Pepy2_OXEe4C&dq=undoing+gender+judith+butler&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=ueFbSpm1HJHOsQOlzMCbCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4

[Juanon]

They appear happy, and, so, good for them.

On the other hand, one can't help but hum a little of Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out with Him?"

[Henry Walker]

Like Cher said, " I don't understand it."

[HowSoonIsNow]

understanding comes from educating yourself

at one point, many people didn't understand gays and lesbians either

[mbsq]

What's there to understand? Carrie Prejean wanted breast implants, Chastity Bono wanted breast reductions. Just another aspect of our cosmetic surgery culture.

[Darcman]

What people like you call "educating" other people would call an Indoctrination!

[mbsq]

Read some Judith Butler. Gender identity is an illusion. People claiming that they "should" have surgery to change their sex are confused. They're no different than Carrie Prejean wanting breast implants; they're all aesthetically motivated to fit into certain socially constructed ideals of gender. What would truly radical and liberating is to just be yourself and respect nature.

[HowSoonIsNow]

I have read Judith Butler and she has done a grave disservice to people who are trans.

[mbsq]

and yet she is a radical postmodernist feminist

[mbsq]

free your mind, it'll save you hardship

[mbsq]

Butler is trying to free you of the constraints that lead to the dissatisfaction with oneself preceding such an operation, and the huge loss of money, pain, and scars accompanying it. Once you can realize that the notion of gender is largely a historically contingent social invention, you can accept yourself the way you are. The point is that there is no "incongruence" between mannerisms, fashion, tastes on the one hand, and genitals on the other. You are just you. I would advise acceptance.

[Patriot68]

Yikes. Heavy needs to look into slim fast and exercise.

[HowSoonIsNow]

Shannon Minter:

"I did not transition because I think one must have a male body to do certain things or behave in certain ways. Not at all. I did it because I was miserable having a female body, and I'm so much happier having a masculine body....The desire to have a differently sexed body is the essence of being transsexual. It is a very immediate, somatic, physical thing. It is the difference between living with a degree of unhappiness and misery I wouldn't wish on anybody, and feeling good."