Chaz Bono on DWTS: Transgender is OK, But Same-Sex Dance Partners are Forbidden

Dancing With the Stars has been promoting Chaz Bono's inclusion in the cast as an effort to appeal to the LGBT community, but some are accusing DWTS of hypocrisy because the competition forbids same-sex partnerings.

We try to follow what happens in real ballroom competitions, DWTS executive producer Conrad Green told E! Online in explanation. That was the original intention of the show. And while we are aware that there are same-sex couples, the competitions are usually mixed-gendered.

Green said the show executives thought about pairing Carson Kressley, an openly gay DWTS contestant, with a male dance partner, but ultimately decided against it.

It's a performance, like actors, so we don't think it's odd pairing up dancers with incompatible sexual preferences, but based off abilities, Green said.

A blogger for The Stir criticized DWTS' diversity cherry-picking.

I'm just saying, it seems like embracing one form of diversity but not another seems a little hypocritical, wrote Linda Sharps. If you ask me, DWTS is just worried that a same-sex dance partner would be taking things too far in terms of what the conservative public is willing to watch. Sure, you can put a gay man on the show, but anyone who gets freaked out about the idea of homosexuality doesn't really have to confront it, because they're watching him dance with a woman.

The announcement that Chaz Bono was joining the cast of DWTS season 13 has brought the show a generous amount of publicity, but not all of it has been positive, with objectors taking to Twitter and ABC message boards to voice their disapproval.

One Million Moms, a Christian pro-censorship group, said in a statement that casting Bono is completely unacceptable and Christians should not watch the show, no excuses!

Bono, formerly Chastity Bono, is the only child of the legendary superstar duo Sonny Bono and Cher.

His mother defended her son on Twitter Wednesday, tweeting: lovelies! Chaz is Being Viciously Attacked on Blogs & Message boards about being on DWTS!This is Still America right ? It took guts 2 do it.

Chaz himself is thrilled for the chance to compete on the show. [I'm] so happy to finale confirm that I am doing DWTS this season and I couldn't be more excited about it, he tweeted earlier this week.

Bono successfully completed a two-year gender transition from female to male in May 2010. His documentary about the transition, Becoming Chaz, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and later aired on Oprah Winfrey's network, OWN.

In May 2011, Bono released his book, Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man.

It's probably the hardest I've worked on anything in my life . . . this journey wasn't just about transitioning; it was a journey of coming to understand myself, learning how to take care of myself, putting my fears away and putting my needs as a priority instead of concerning myself with what everyone else thought. It's, essentially, really about growing up, Bono told the L.A. Times.