LGBT and transgender advocate Chaz Bono took his audience through his journey of self-discovery Tuesday at the Illini Union.
Sponsored by the Illini Union Board and the LGBT Committee, “An Evening with Chaz Bono, Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man” brought Bono to campus to give audience members an idea of what it means to be a transgendered person.
Leslie Morrow, director of the LGBT Resource Center, said she hoped the talk would have “people walk away with a better understanding of his story and exposure to what it means to be gender nonconforming and gender non-normative.”
“He’s here simply to tell his story and to talk about his challenges and opportunities that he’s had a chance to experience and be exposed to.”
University staff, students and other community members lined the hallways of the Union in anticipation of Bono’s presentation.
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“Our goal is to reach out to everyone and hear his story,” said Tolu Taiwo, president of the Illini Union Board and Illini Media employee. “I think it’s really cool that we can get everybody on campus to come and hear what he has to say because he is an individual with a unique story.”
Bono said his journey began around age 4, when he became aware that there was something different about himself. He said his choice in friends, activities and interests aligned with those of a young boy rather than a young girl. He said he felt “uncomfortable all the time and started to detach from my body and live my life inside my head.”
After years of struggling with his identity, Bono began hormone therapy.
“It felt like something my body has always been needing,” Bono said. “It helped me come down from my head and live in my body for the first time in a long time.”
Bono said he later underwent top surgery, which made his chest appear more masculine. He referred to the surgery as “a big piece of the puzzle of my life.”
“After that, I started really feeling like me and liking myself when I looked in the mirror,” he said.
“My life really started when I transitioned.”
Bono ended the evening by telling the audience to “take the risk to be yourself, whoever yourself is” and said “a life filled with secrets is not a life at all.”
Jessica can be reached at [email protected].
