Chastity Bono, the lesbian daughter of Cher and the late Sonny Bono, announced late today that she is planning to undergo a sex change operation.

Reports the New York Daily News:

The 40-year-old, known to family and friends as Chaz, came out as a lesbian nearly two decades ago. Bono intends to make the transition from woman to man, publicist Howard Bragman said.

"Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity," Bragman said.

"He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by loved ones.

"It is Chaz's hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his coming out did nearly 20 years ago."

Now, first off, we wish Chastity Bono luck with the procedure and hope that it helps her find whatever happiness and fulfillment from it that she seeks, but, we're quite confused about something—In the statement quoted by the Daily News, the publicist refers to "Chaz" using the words "he" and "his," yet it's our understanding that the sex change procedure has yet to take place, so technically isn't Chastity Bono still a she? Is there some sort of proper transsexual terminology that we're ignorant of? Does the mere intention of undergoing a sex change mean that the person planning to undergo the sex change gets to be referred to as whatever sex they plan to be in the future? Someone out there please educate us on this, as we straights are woefully ignorant of such things. Writing this post was extremely difficult because we had no idea if we're supposed to refer to Chaz as a he or a she.

We're so confused.