Good Evening Dr. Phil -
My Partner and I just finished watching your show on Same Sex Marriage and the Proposition 8 Amendment in California. We have been Partners for over 13 years. We also had a "Right of Commitment" ceremony in a local Gay church about a year after we met. We are also "Registered Domestic Partners" here in Broward County, Florida. While Jim and I both agree on thedefinition of Marriage, we have issues with the Gay Community in having a Marriage license. If the Gay Community had decided on the word/term of Civil Union and the governments across the country passed laws as Domestic Partners who are given the same Equal Rights as Heterosexual couples, then chances are this would probably not even be an issue. But because some gay people want to have a marriage license, I feel this has created the uproar that we are seeing across the country. Here in Broward County, Florida, we too had a similar amendment on Election Day called Amenment 2. This Amendment was also passed by the people of the state of Florida. I feel that if we can change the wording from Marriage to Civil Union/Domestic Partners, the gay community can have a much greater peace with the heterosexual and religous communities. And now here is my Partner Jim with his side of the story.
Hello Dr. Phil -
I was very pleased at how you presented both sides of the issue today. I was married for 20 years and had 2 children and now have 2 grandchildren who know and love my partner. But that is another story. I really wanted to comment on gay couples having children. I am a Mental Health Professional and my feeling is that - children will identify with their parents and my concern is that - i.e. with 2 men raising a daughter -who is the female figure that she will identify with. My concern is that it may confuse the children as they enter adulthood and begin to interact with other men and women. As Terry said- if only we (gays) would have presented this as "DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP", rather than a "MARRIAGE", we be more accepted and to be honest, Terry and I do not neet to be married to have a good relationship. We also have a strong Spiritual relationship not necessarily connected with the organized religous community. However, we were both brought up in the standard Christian experience. We do not reject that, but choose to follow our beliefs that God is definitely guiding our lives. Well I could go on and on. We just wanted to express our opinions and feelings about the issue.
God Bless You for what you do. You have changed many lives. Thanks for the opportunity to express ourselves. Call if you want to know more and how we expereince this.
Terry Wright and Jim Knisley
