A Conservative's defense of Chaz Bono

Novelist Douglas MacKinnon writes for the Huffington Post:

I believe I would meet most people's definition of a "true conservative." So much so that I'm sure many on the far-left have no doubt that my knuckles drag on the ground as I lurch from one defense of traditional values to another.

It is exactly because of that reputation and my beliefs that I felt it important to weigh in on the Chaz Bono-Keith Ablow "controversy." An issue which gained national attention after Mr. Ablow -- who is a psychiatrist, author, and Fox News contributor -- ignorantly, purposefully, and hurtfully said in his Fox News column with regard to Mr. Bono appearing on ABC's Dancing With the Stars:

I advise parents to not allow their children to watch the episodes in which Chaz appears. The last thing vulnerable children and adolescents need, as they wrestle with the normal process of establishing their identities, is to watch a captive crowd in a studio audience applaud on cue for someone whose search for an identity culminated with the removal of her breasts, the injection of steroids... Chaz Bono should not be applauded for asserting she is a man (and goes about trying to look like one) any more than a woman who believes she will be happier without arms, has them removed and then continues to assert that she was right all along -- her self-concept was that of a double amputee. Now, all is well. Chaz Bono should not be applauded any more than someone who, tragically, believes that his species, rather than gender, is what is amiss and asks a plastic surgeon to build him a tail of flesh harvested from his abdomen. If only a plastic surgeon would acquiesce, all would be well.

Are you kidding me? No offense, but how did this guy get a license to practice medicine? Unlike Dr. Ablow, as a conservative, I would advise any and all to watch Chaz Bono on Dancing With The Stars or any other program he happens to be on.

Has Dr. Ablow ever watched Mr. Bono give an interview? I have and he comes across as an incredibly decent, moral, thoughtful, articulate and forgiving person who simply wants to be happy and wishes happiness for all those around him. What's wrong with that? If only the world had many more people with Mr. Bono's mindset.

As a conservative and as a Christian, I happen to believe we are all God's children. I also happen to believe that we are all hard-wired at birth. The vast majority heterosexual, some homosexual, and some who truly believe they are trapped in the wrong gender.

I no more think a child is going to look at Chaz Bono on television and think they should now switch their gender than I think a straight man or a woman can magically be transformed into a homosexual based on what they see or hear. It's just ridiculous.

Whether Dr. Ablow or anyone else agrees, Chaz Bono made a very courageous decision and is now very happy with who he is as a person. Isn't that all that should matter?

Unfortunately and dangerously, it's not. In light of all this attention and with Dr. Ablow's ignorant statements taken into account, ABC television has now ordered security for Mr. Bono.

As for Chaz Bono, he continued to walk the high road saying he had no ill-will against Mr. Ablow and that the controversy just seemed a way for the psychiatrist to further his "career ambitions."

I agree. But at what cost?