MSNBC's Roberts talks Wilton Manors, being out

 

MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts laughs at the memory of being challenged recently on his bona fides as a gay man.
"I had friends say, 'You don't know about Wilton Manors?! You're
kidding! It's fantastic!' " Roberts recalled. "I may be the last person
on Earth to know about it. I've heard a lot of great things recently. So
I'm coming to educate myself."
Roberts
and his partner, Patrick Abner, will be the grand marshals of the 12th
annual Stonewall Festival & Parade on Sunday. Their weekend begins
Friday night when parade organizers will squire the couple around
Wilton Manors hotspots. This year's event salutes longtime couples;
Roberts (far right when they attended the White House Correspondents'
Dinner in April) and Abner, who works for Merck Pharmaceuticals'
HIV/AIDS division, have been together for 10 years.
"We were flattered, honored to be asked," Roberts said from his Manhattan home this week. "We're really excited."
An important milestone in the newsman's career occurred in South
Florida in 2006, when Roberts, then anchor of CNN's Headline News,
served on a panel at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists
Association Convention in Miami.
"I wanted to show younger journalists coming up that you could run a
great professional life and a great personal life, and they didn’t have
to be mutually exclusive," Roberts said.
Roberts had been "out" with co-workers since 2000 but his appearance
at the convention, at the invitation of local news anchor Craig Stevens
and with the blessing of his bosses at CNN, was treated in the
blogosphere as his first public acknowledgement of being gay.
"It was considered me coming out, but I wasn't really in," Roberts
said. "I was happy to have it out there. It hasn't served me in a
negative way."
In addition to his daytime anchor duties on MSNBC, Roberts can be
seen hosting the network's Friday night recaps of the week's twists and
turns at Casey Anthony murder trial. "It's riveted the country," he
said. "It's fascinating to watch it play out."
Fellow NBC employee Tracy Morgan's recent flap for an anti-gay comedy
bit, following high-profile gay slurs used by NBA stars Kobe Bryant and
Joakim Noah, do not dim Roberts' outlook for an improving relationship
between gay and straight America.
"We have never been in a better place in terms of having an open
dialogue about where LGBT Americans stand in this country," he said.
"Issues that have been back-burnered are now front-burnered."
Roberts points to the ABC ratings hit "Modern Family," which features
a married gay couple with an adopted daughter, as an example of an
evolving tolerance and understanding.
"'Modern Family' is a great representation of the modern family in
this day and age," he said. "We all come from unique family experiences.
That we invite these people into our homes willingly each week is
positive. It helps open up the kind of dialogue we need."
Sunday's Stonewall Parade coincides with Father's Day and Roberts
won't rule out adding to his own family. He and Abner's plan has been to
revisit the idea of having a child when they turn 40. Both are now 38.
For now, they are content with their two mixed labs, Roxy and Riley.
But he acknowledges the limits of their affection on a day like Father's
Day.
"They're terrible shoppers," he said.

IF YOU GO
The 12th annual Stonewall Street Festival & Parade is 4 to 9 p.m.
Sunday along Wilton Drive in Wilton Manors. This year's event has been
expanded with three entertainment stages, wine tastings and chef
demonstrations. The parade begins at 6:30 p.m. Info: stonewallwiltonmanors.com.