Chastity Bono, Sonny and Cher’s famously lesbian daughter, has decided to begin the process of living her life as a man, according to her representative. Chastity, who will now go by Chaz, began the process around his 40th birthday. Neither TMZ or Chaz’s representative specifies exactly what this means for him: if he’ll dress, live, and identify as a male, if he’ll take hormones, or if he’ll eventually have a sex change operation. Most doctors require a person live as their desired gender for a certain period of time before they’ll perform sexual reassignment surgery, so that’s often an initial step in the process.

Chastity Bono, civil rights advocate, journalist, author and musician, is in the early stages of changing his gender — transitioning from female to male, TMZ has learned.

Bono, the child of legendary entertainers Sonny and Cher, began the process earlier this year, shortly after his 40th birthday.

“Yes, it’s true — Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity,” confirmed Bono’s publicist, Howard Bragman.

“He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by his loved ones. 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 nearly 20 years ago.

We ask that the media respect Chaz’s privacy during this long process as he will not be doing any interviews at this time.”

[From TMZ]

While they use both the terms “identity” and “gender” the statement seems to be implying that Chaz is going to eventually have a reassignment surgery. Since he’s not going to be speaking about it for now, I guess we’ll have to wait and see exactly what “transitioning from female to male” means to Chaz.

One summer when I was in college I worked in a dorm that functioned as a hotel in the summers. We hosted a lot of visiting conferences, and before a LGTQ came we attended several discussions with a group of transsexual and transgendered individuals. All of them told their stories about the first time they passed as their desired gender, which was a really powerful moment for them. One woman said she’d accidentally cut off a guy while driving. Furious, he stuck his head out his window and screamed “‘You dumb bitch!’” with more anger than she’d ever heard. But as she put it, “I was so excited that he called me a bitch that I yelled back ‘Thank you!’ grinning ear-to-ear.”

Everyone described transitioning to their desired gender as finally living their lives in a way that felt authentic; like they were finally happy and being honest with themselves. Supposedly it’s an incredibly powerful and challenging time. It seems like Chaz has a lot of supportive people around him – and while the next several years will have lots of challenges most of us never face, it’ll probably be the best time of his life.

Cher and her daughter, Chastity Bono, are pitching a new reality show in which they help gay people come out to their families. Chastity is out and proud, but Cher wasn’t so accepting of her daughter’s homosexuality when she was first confronted with the news. Cher kicked Chastity out of her NY apartment when her daughter came out to her, and it took her a while to come to terms with it. Chastity’s father, the late singer and Congressman Sonny Bono, was said to be immediately accepting and to have already realized that his daughter was gay. Cher and Chastity also denied reports in 1990 that claimed Chastity was a lesbian. She came out to the press in 1995.

Chastity is a heavier person who lost 23 pounds on Celebrity Fit Club 3 on VH1 last year but has since gained it back, according to reports. Unfortunately the Daily Mail article about their new reality show typically focuses on Chastity’s weight rather than the news that she may star in a positive show with her mom.

Chastity told The Advocate last year that she wasn’t too fond of reality TV shows, but that she understands how they work and is willing to play the game:

Bono says it’s strange to find herself a reality TV participant, since she hates most of what she’s seen on such shows. But she’s media-savvy enough to know how to convey the impression of “realness” without being entirely real. “There are certainly things that are, if not scripted, at least set up,” she divulges. “And there are often times when they have to do a take 2 of something.” Like maybe they didn’t catch her initial reaction to being told she’d have to run a race inside a giant inflatable hamster wheel. “So,” she says, “you have to repeat the shot of ‘Oh-my-gosh-it’s-a-giant-inflatable-hamster-wheel!’”

[From The Advocate and found at FindArticles.com]

Chastity has been sober for nearly two years, after having beaten an addiction to the painkiller Oxycontin, to which she became hooked while dealing with the grief from her longterm partner’s death.

61 year-old Cher has been having intestinal trouble, and has reportedly gone to the same clinic in Germany where Farrah Fawcett is having cancer treatment. Her reps deny that she has serious medical problems.

There is speculation that Cher is financially strapped after she auctioned off her expensive tchotchkes and is rumored to be considering yet another farewell stint in Vegas. It seems like that rumor is true given the fact that she’s trying to get a reality show. The Daily Mail reports that the title will be “Coming Out With Cher and Chas.”

Chastity Bono is shown at the Outfest Film Festival on 7/16/05, thanks to WENN. Cher is shown in April, 2006 in NY, thanks to Splash News.

“If I ever see a woman with chipped nail polish on her nails, I’ll walk right over and smack her over the head with my grocery bag. Unkempt is not fashionable, there is simply no excuse for it.” Steven Cojocaru, as quoted on the Rachel Ray show.

Oh snap, Cojo! Point taken, but sometimes you’ve gotta cut a mom a break on this one. Doing things like dishes and diapers is not exactly manicure-friendly work. Besides, isn’t it a bigger fashion crime for a grown man to to think it’s “fashionable” to dress up like Chastity Bono? I’m just sayin’.