Thursday, April 21, 2011
Dr. Phil Has Gay Couple as Guests. I sometimes watch the Dr. Phil show, at least until I see what the topic is. Then I usually turn off, because the topic turns me off, and both stupid and crazy people irritate me. Most of the topics dealt with are irrelevant to my life as a gay man. I also realized that most of the things that Dr. Phil deals with have little or no relevance to me in other ways, because I live alone, my extended family is scattered across thousands of miles, I rarely see my friends because the three I am in touch with most often are scattered (several miles from me in different directions) and I communicate with them almost only via email and IM, and rarely via fone or in-person. So I don't really need relationship advice. I see acquaintances at art events here in Newark (NJ, which has a very active arts community), but those are very brief and casual conversations.
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In any case, I have not until today had a clear idea of where Dr. Phil stands on the issue of homosexuality. Certainly homosexuality has been very underrepresented in his discussions, but I didn't know why that might be.
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Today, I finally saw him speak with a gay couple, Ródiney Santiago and Reichen Leimkuhl. Leimkuhl had won CBS's Amazing Race in 2003 with a different partner, Chip Arndt, but they later broke up. Divorced people are hardly new on Dr. Phil. He's had hundreds of straight divorced people on his show.
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I have actually been indignant that Dr. Phil gave no time nor attention to gay men, but when finally a gay couple was featured, their only problem seemed to be petty annoyance about each other's tidiness. Big deal. The good doctor had them take a personality test, and that indicated that they were pretty well suited to each other. That doesn't mean they'll stay together, of course, it being very difficult for most people to commit to a life-long relationship. But Dr. Phil was not the slitest judgmental, and acted as tho it was absolutely, perfectly normal for these two men to be romantically and (sexually) involved. Good.
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In any case, I have not until today had a clear idea of where Dr. Phil stands on the issue of homosexuality. Certainly homosexuality has been very underrepresented in his discussions, but I didn't know why that might be.
+
Today, I finally saw him speak with a gay couple, Ródiney Santiago and Reichen Leimkuhl. Leimkuhl had won CBS's Amazing Race in 2003 with a different partner, Chip Arndt, but they later broke up. Divorced people are hardly new on Dr. Phil. He's had hundreds of straight divorced people on his show.
+
I have actually been indignant that Dr. Phil gave no time nor attention to gay men, but when finally a gay couple was featured, their only problem seemed to be petty annoyance about each other's tidiness. Big deal. The good doctor had them take a personality test, and that indicated that they were pretty well suited to each other. That doesn't mean they'll stay together, of course, it being very difficult for most people to commit to a life-long relationship. But Dr. Phil was not the slitest judgmental, and acted as tho it was absolutely, perfectly normal for these two men to be romantically and (sexually) involved. Good.
