Imogen

Editorial note: Imogen swears that this is a real interview that happened in the real world, but to be frank, we at PrettyQueer don’t believe her, and want to be explicit that we are running it as fiction.

A week or so ago, I got an e-mail from Chaz Bono, asking to be interviewed on PrettyQueer. Stoked for the opportunity, I emailed back and forth with him a couple times, just to make sure that his interest in PQ was sincere; I’d have a hard time even expressing how many important celebrities are clamoring for space here. But after a couple of exchanges, I felt like his interest was coming from a good place, and also like he would be willing to answer difficult questions if they came up– an instinct that proved true. He invited me to Café Gratitude in San Francisco for this interview, where we shared the I Am Grateful, an I Am Grounded, and– the boring appropriateness was noted and mocked off-record– the I Am Transformed.

It’s interesting and worth noting that our whole process didn’t involve his publicist in any way.

PrettyQueer: Ok cool I think it’s recording. Hi Chaz, and thank you for offering to do an interview with PrettyQueer!

Chaz Bono: No problem! Thanks for having me. You know, I don’t really identify as queer in any way, but I’m always happy to help out a cool project, and I really respect the work that you and the other folks at PQ are doing. And I have some things that I want to talk about.

PQ: You mean after that New York Times article, and that “Becoming Chaz” documentary.

CB: Yeah, definitely. I’ve been thinking about stuff a lot, and talking to some folks about some stuff… see, there was some pretty intense backlash against some stuff I said, both in that article and in that documentary, but not from the places I was expecting it to come from. I was prepared for conservative folks not to get it, and like, old people, religious people, y’know– the people from whom we’re told to expect intolerance. But most of those folks have been surprisingly cool! I’ve been getting more static from the queer community, like folks with more aggressive critiques of our culture. Even though ike I said I don’t identify as gay or queer or anything, that stuff really hurt my feelings- accusations of misogyny, for example, that I’ve been essentializing masculinity, specifically by conflating testosterone with this callous, uncritically privileged way of being a man. Embodying hegemony, basically?

(laughter)
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