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.