Openly gay actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson discussed the reasons why he prefers to use the term husband when referring to his spouse on Sunday's episode of Oprah's Next Chapter.

Ferguson, a co-star of the ABC hit sitcom Modern Family, appeared on the program along with actor Dan Bucatinsky and comedian Wanda Sykes to discuss being gay in Hollywood.

(Related: Wanda Sykes: I chose to be straight.)

Winfrey note that her three guests used the terms wife and husband when referring to their spouses.

“How does it feel to say, 'My husband?'” Winfrey asked.

“You know, no kid sits in bed thinking, 'I can't wait to have a domestic partner.' Like, you always say, 'I want to have a wife or I want to have a husband,'” Ferguson answered.

“Putting my emergency contact and it says, 'Relation to you,' I want to say husband. I mean, that is so special. And that's like, we have fought very hard for that. And it's a fight that I feel we've come a little bloody from. And so I'm definitely using that word extremely proudly.” (The video is embedded on this page. Visit our video library for more videos.)

(Related: Wanda Sykes, Dan Bucatinsky “maddened” by opposition to gay marriage.)