Different Than Us = Bad

Attention parents: this fall, a dangerous television show will be hitting the airwaves that you'll need to keep your children away from.

Its name? Dancing with the Stars.

There may be reasons to avoid Dancing with the Stars, including the hideous cover versions of songs the contestants dance to, Brooke Burke's inane commentary, or the arbitrary voting that seems to keep undeserving dancers on the show long after they deserve to depart. But according to Fox News' Dr. Keith Ablow (whose "wisdom" I've questioned before), those aren't the real dangers to children.

As Dr. Ablow says in an opinion piece on Fox News' website, the problem is transgender contestant Chaz Bono.

Ablow says, "Casting Chaz Bono on "Dancing with the Stars" is part of Chaz’s victory tour, which has included appearances on talk shows and the release of a book called "Transition." I advise parents to not allow their children to watch the episodes in which Chaz appears."

In Ablow's twisted mind, simply watching Chaz Bono perform and be applauded on the show could wreck havoc with their gender identity. "The last thing vulnerable children and adolescents need, as they wrestle with the normal process of establishing their identities, is to watch a captive crowd in a studio audience applaud on cue for someone whose search for an identity culminated with the removal of her breasts, the injection of steroids and, perhaps one day soon, the fashioning of a make-shift phallus to replace her vagina," says the not-so-good doctor.

You know what hurts children wrestling with their gender and sexual identities? Being told that what they feel and who they might be is wrong. Being told that boys must act one way and girls another in order to be considered "normal," and if they don't, they need help.

That's what people like Dr. Ablow preach. That's what causes young people to kill themselves, the fear of being considered "abnormal" by those around them. Instead of embracing our children for who they are, Ablow believes medical treatment and prayer can change them into who they should be.

Chaz Bono isn't the danger, Dr. Ablow. Intolerance, prejudice and hatred are the dangers.

And at least I won't see those on Dancing with the Stars.