Randall Terry, a
leading conservative Christian, actively
promotes "family values issues" in his Florida state
senate race, but his gay son, Jamiel, says things are
not what they seem. Among the senior Terry's pledges
are preserving traditional marriage and opposing
adoptions by gays. He has touted efforts to stop abortions.
His campaign mailers sum up the value he puts on
family: They show a picture of him with his wife, a
daughter, and three grinning young sons; the photo was
taken before a fourth son was born this summer.
But Jamiel said the picture is missing two
people: him and his sister, Tila, both of whom
are adopted. Both have been estranged from their
father since Jamiel came out as a gay man and Tila had
a child out of wedlock.
Jamiel said the self-image that his father is
crafting and the campaign message about strong
families ignores part of his own family history. He
said voters have a right to know about that.
"He is very big on image," Jamiel said. "In a
large way Tila and I mess up that image."
Jamiel, 26, said in interviews last week and
Monday that voters in the northeast Florida district
where his father is trying to unseat Sen. Jim King in
the Republican primary should know more about the
candidate's family. Randall Terry said he's up-front
about his whole family and has never tried to hide
anything about his children, even those with whom he
has deep disagreements.
He said voters don't care anyway. "I don't think
it would affect one vote, one way or another.
Everybody has problems in their family," said Randall
Terry, who founded Operation Rescue, an antiabortion protest
group. He said voters care more about issues they deal with
in their own lives, such as homeowners insurance,
medical malpractice, and property taxes.
The fact that he has two adopted children isn't
news. Jamiel and Randall Terry's relationship has been
the subject of a long article in The Washington Post,
and the Associated Press wrote a story when Jamiel
went public with his homosexuality in Out magazine in 2004.
"He was a good dad," Jamiel said, adding,
however, that he wouldn't support his candidacy.
Randall said he strongly disapproves of his son's homosexuality.
"But I'm absolutely not ashamed--I love
him," Randall said. He said Jamiel is smart but that
by talking to a reporter he was simply trying to get
at his father as part of their ongoing disagreement. But he
said overall, "I'm very proud of him."
Jamiel also said his father left Tila to fend
for herself when she was pregnant, a charge Randall
vehemently denies. He said he has tried to get his
daughter in to a program that helps unwed young mothers. She
didn't return phone calls seeking comment.
Jamiel said his father's policy ideas don't
always fit his own behavior. "He has tried to say
abortion should not exist because families and
churches should step in," Jamiel said. "When his own
daughter is pregnant, he refuses to help her."
Randall and his first wife adopted the
two when Jamiel was 8 and Tila was 3. Randall has
said publicly that some problems stem from the way the
children were treated before they were adopted.
Randall persuaded a woman not to have an
abortion in 1987. When the child, Tila, was born,
Randall took care of her and then adopted her older
brother, Jamiel. They grew up with Terry, who was famous as
a leading religious conservative voice.
A spokesperson for King, Randall Terry's
opponent, declined to comment on Terry's family.
Randall said he tells anyone who asks that he
has seven children, including Jamiel and Tila. As for
campaign literature that doesn't have them in the
picture, he said it's not because he is embarrassed. "The
reason we don't have a photo with Jamiel and Tila is that we
haven't been in the same room with them in about three
years," Randall said.
That's the point, Jamiel said. If a candidate is
going to talk about strong families, he ought to talk
about why his own family isn't.
"Both Tila and I have tried to revive or
rekindle our relationship with my father, and we've
been shut out," Jamiel said. "So maybe if we had been
invited for Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, etc., we
would be in a family photo."
Randall Terry denied that his son has tried to
fix the relationship, accusing Jamiel of only wanting
to hurt him. Jamiel occasionally e-mails his
father, but Randall said the e-mails are simply
"vicious." Jamiel said he's only trying to reconnect. (AP)
