Transgender activist Chaz Bono has said
he is frustrated by calls for an ad boycott against an upcoming
episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation which deals with
transgender issues.
Bono will appear as himself in the
episode scheduled to air this fall. On the episode, Bono will play a
celebrity guest judge at Degrassi's Battle of the Bands and share a
scene with Jordan Todosey, whose character was bullied after he came
out transgender.
Bono, who began his own gender
transition in 2008, appeared Friday on CBC Radio's Q with Jian
Ghomeshi.
The 43-year-old author-activist was
asked if a planned ad boycott by the Florida Family Association (FFA)
of the episode made him angry.
“It's frustrating,” he answered.
“I mean, it's frustrating that we have to slog along. That we
can't just get to the end point where we're going to be. But you can
look at any group that has been held down in any way or had prejudice
against them. And it changes. You know, it just slowly changes over
time.”
(Listen
to the entire interview at CBC.ca.)