LGBTQI rights activist visits CSUMB

‘Transition: A Conversation with Chaz Bono’ sponsored by CAHSS

Chaz Bono, the only child of entertainers Sonny and Cher, will visit California State University, Monterey Bay on March 9. The public is invited.

The event will take the form of a conversation with the audience on physical and social gender transitions, and will include an opportunity for attendees to submit written questions.

Bono is an advocate for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, queer and intersex people, an author and speaker. He came out publicly in 1995 in an interview with The Advocate, the national gay and lesbian news magazine. The decision to come out prompted his public work in support of LGBTQI rights and social justice.

His latest book, “Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man,” due out in May, is his candid account of a 40-year struggle to match his gender identity with his physical body and his transformation from female to male.

The story of that transition is also told in “Becoming Chaz,” a documentary screened in January at the Sundance Film Festival. It will air on the Oprah Winfrey Network later this year.

The film depicts Bono’s emotional and physical transition, a journey of identity and self-discovery. Beyond hormone treatments and surgeries, the film walks moviegoers through Bono’s changing relationship with his mother, and with his partner, Jennifer Elia. He says he’s now infinitely happier and more fulfilled.

“It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life. It’s the only time I’ve felt like a complete person,” he says in the film.

Parts of his story are familiar to many. Three years ago, Chastity Bono began the process of changing genders. Bono was 39 at the time and had led a stormy life, battling addiction, the death of a partner, a coming-out process and the glare of the spotlight that began as an infant, in front of a national TV audience on “The Sonny and Cher Show.”

Despite it all, “Most people will have much more in common with Chaz than they think,” filmmaker Randy Barbato told the Los Angeles Times in an interview at Sundance. “He’s kind of an average Joe.”

The event is sponsored by CSUMB’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the campus Out and About club.

WHAT: Transition: A Conversation with Chaz Bono WHEN: 7 p.m., March 9 WHERE: Ballroom of the University Center on Sixth Avenue COST: Free, no tickets or reservations required INFORMATION: Cheryl Abbott, 582-4189