GOPRIDE.COM

Thomas Roberts becomes first gay man to anchor network news

Tue. July 21, 2015

Chicago, IL - Thomas Roberts on Saturday anchored NBC's Nightly News, making him the first openly gay anchor of a prime-time newscast on any of the major television networks.

The 42-year-old Roberts told gay glossy The Advocate that being the first was a "huge honor."



Roberts is one of three openly gay MSBNC personalities. The cable network's lineup also includes Rachel Maddow and Steve Kornacki. Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon, who are also gay, appear on CNN.

Roberts, who married Patrick Abner, of Merck Pharmaceuticals' HIV/AIDS division, in 2012 in New York, came out publicly in 2006 during a panel on LGBT anchors.

But Roberts has said that he started coming out to coworkers in 1999, when he was living in Norfolk, Virginia.

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