Recently in Out in News Category

I just gotta get me a subscription to Best Life, a magazine from Men's Health that I believe is geared for men over 40. Even though I am just 29 (ha!), I think I might rather enjoy it.

And let's be real: Anderson Cooper is on the cover of the lastest issue! Yes, he's a distinguished journalist who has reported from international hotspots and from all sorts of domestic disasters. Yes, he's very smart and a good interviewer. But I guess I really like him because he is a dreamboat!

Earlier posts:
-- Video: Anderson Cooper can't believe what he sees...
-- My latest newsman crush...
-- Neil Patrick Harris defends Anderson Cooper's right not to be public...

This kid's appearance on "The Today Show" this morning just blew me away. Tim Russert, who died on Friday, was one heck of a dad which is so apparent when you watch his son Luke Russert.

There are certain Sunday morning rituals that I have had for years: reading the Sunday papers and watching "Meet the Press." So it was stunning to hear that the show's longtime moderator Tim Russert dropped dead earlier in the day in the Washington D.C. bureau of NBC News. He is believed to have had a fatal heart attack.

He was a tough interviewer - really grilled public figures - and someone who really had the respect of his fellow journalists. Here is an exchange he had just recently with John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate:

Russert: "You have said repeatedly, 'I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues...'"
McCain: "Actually, I don't know where you got that quote from."
Russert: "I got it from John McCain and here it is."
McCain: "OK, let me tell you what I was trying to say and what I meant."

It is so sad to think that his life has ended at the age of 58 and that we won't have him holding the feet of politicians to the fire.

Tim also had a weekly CNBC talk show that I liked to watch where more relaxed conversations took place with authors and other noteworthy folks. My nephew Anthony, who had often stayed the weekend with his uncle Greg as a kid, always jokes about and imitates the "Meet the Press" theme music he would hear coming from my television when he was trying to get that last hour of sleep.

Rest in peace, Tim.

Here is the first report of his death, delivered by Tom Brokaw:

I attended the LifeWorks Mentoring fuindraiser Saturday evening in West Hollywood and will write all about it in a post thbis afternoon. Thought I'd do a little write-up first on Thomas Roberts who was there with his boyfriend. When I spotted him, I thought he might not wanna talk to any media so I just asked, without identifying myself, if I could snap a photo of him. He said, "Sure. But don't I know you? You're Greg, right?"

Gulp.

But no worries. He could not have been nicer and we had a chat. Thomas, the former CNN Headline News anchor, was let go from the entertainment show "The Insider" several months ago. But he seemed remarkably not bitter about it and optimisitc about the future although he couldn't yet reveal any details about what might be in the works.

When we went our separate ways, I looked at the photo in my camera and while Thomas looked sensational (how could he not?), I did not. So later, we ran into him again and it what followed was a hilarious photo session with my friend Eddie snapping our photo then Thomas and I looking at it then requesting another and another and another. He thought he looked kinda constipated in one, I had too much of a double chin in another. But we got a few that we both liked, finally...

Earlier posts:
-- Thomas Roberts surfaces...on the cover of The Advocate!!!

-- Whatever happened to Thomas Roberts?

-- Former CNN anchor Thomas Roberts goes Hollywood...

-- CNN's Thomas Roberts' not so prime-time shifts...

I'm so excited to see this story on my friend Karen Ocamb in LA Weekly (one of the LA People of 2008) that I am going to post the entire thing. What Karen does becomes all the more important as the battle to preserve gay marriage in California heats up. I'd say that Karen would be working harder than ever but I don't think that's possible!

Here's the story, "Hard news as a civil right," by Patrick Range McDonald

On a recent Monday morning, Karen Ocamb sits back on a couch and gears up for another heavy week of hard-news journalism. Her one-bedroom apartment in West Hollywood is the command center, where she calls up sources, writes copy on a MacBook Pro and always keeps the television turned on to MSNBC or CNN as her three dogs lie around and nap. For 20 years, Ocamb has been reporting about a world few Los Angeles journalists, if any, have covered so consistently and with such passion.

"These are civil rights issues," she says. "Whenever someone is denied the right to the pursuit of happiness, we should all be concerned. That's what I continue to write about."

Lorri L.Jean of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, a tireless activist whose efforts on the issue go back years, said at a news conference: "Today, I can marry the love of my life." Jean added that her father had died seven months ago. "He so wanted to walk me down the aisle," she said. "But I know he's dancing in heaven!"

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, pictured next to Lorri, told The Advocate after: "I feel proud to be a Californian. I feel that today we reassert the fundamental obligation of every freedom-loving Californian, that is, that life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness is essential and must be protected by the Constitution."

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San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom: "Today, the California Supreme Court took a bold and important step forward to end discrimination in California. The Court's ruling to grant same-sex couples the right to marry affirms the very best of what California stands for - and proudly continues our state's long-standing commitment to equality and justice.

As San Franciscans, we have taken an irrevocable step toward resolving one of the most important civil rights issues of our generation, and the state's highest court has done the right thing with their ruling. San Francisco is the first government entity in American history to challenge the constitutionality of state marriage laws that discriminate against gay and lesbian couples. I believe that the path San Francisco pursued was not merely right - it was inevitable. It is America's path - the road to true freedom and equality.

The rights afforded by California's Constitution have triumphed, as they must, over laws restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples. In the late 1940s, California courts were among the nation's first to strike down laws banning inter-racial marriage. The state's Supreme Court has once again distinguished itself as a leading defender of our civil rights.

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John Amaechi, via The Advocate: "My very first reaction was that I was quite surprised. I watched the arguments on television and I watched the debates, and to me, as a partisan member of this debate, it seemed like it was such a wonderful logical argument that wasn't about special treatment but about pure equity. Still, I just didn't expect that the supreme court would come back with such a wonderful decision. So I am thrilled.

But at the same time, I want to see how this is going to translate. The sad fact is that when reasonable people move to bring equity to the masses, there always seems to be an objection and someone who wants to try and stop that from happening.

I would have to have a partner, of course, first, before I would consider getting married, but I hope to get married someday. The inability for LGBT people to get married and have their partnership recognized publicly does damage to their relationship. It hinders the recognition of LGBT people in society on the whole. And I think everyone deserves to have that spectacular day that sits beautifully in their memory for the rest of their lives.

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Melissa Etheridge (with wife Tammy Michaels) did this interview with The Advocate today:
"I feel they have made an honest woman of me. What a wonderful blessing for us and the gay community. We're moving forward. It makes me feel happy for the whole human race that we are finally getting out of our differences and coming together and we are putting this all behind us. It really is going to be the thing that we talk to our kids and our grandkids and say, "That was the olden days -- wasn't that ridiculous?"

Where were you when you heard? Were you following the case closely?
Yesterday my wife [Tammy Lynn Michaels] said, "Hey, they are going to vote." And it had been since March since they said they were going to do it, so you kind of forget that people are fighting every day for this. So yesterday my wife said, "Tomorrow they are going to come down with it." So I turned the news on this morning and they said any minute we are supposed to hear this, and so I have been listening. But then I dropped the kids off at school and I did a couple of errands and when I came home I said, "Honey, have you heard anything?" She went back and got on her computer and five minutes later she came back and said, "Whoo! We are married!" [laughs]

So I assume you are planning on getting legally married now?
Well, we had a wedding in 2003, and then we got the domestic partnership after that, so now my wife and I have to sit down and think, what will the formal thing be that we do? I don't know if we want to do the whole full-on thing again because we did do that, and that was our ceremony to ourselves. But I think this calls for a party.

Most important, what do you think this means for your kids?
You know that's the thing. I was just talking to someone about this, and I get all choked up about this because I think that the part that people who don't really understand this issue don't realize is that we are people with jobs and families. We have kids. And there have been years and years of explaining to them. I remember when it was on Schwarzenegger's desk and we were like "Oh, if he signs it, we may be able to get married." And then he vetoed it, and we were like, "Oh, mean governor!" So they have gone through this with us, and I can't wait to pick them up from school today and say, "Hey, your parents are just as married as anybody else's." That's a big thing. It's going to be a good day.

I'll be updating this throughout the afternoon...

Ellen DeGeneres (with girlfriend Portia de Rossi): "I'm thrilled that the California supreme court overturned the ban on gay marriage. I can't wait to get married. We all deserve the same rights, and I believe that someday we'll look back on this and not allowing gays to marry will seem as absurd as not allowing women to vote."
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Chad Allen (via Advocate.com): I have to say I was completely shocked at the level of emotion of my own reaction. It's not that I didn't care, it's just that I didn't know that I cared that much. But when I found out about it, I was so full of joy and happiness and I was really emotional. I think that just relays the sense that when you are denied something, at least for myself, I tend to try and disregard its importance. And when all of a sudden it happened, I realized there was a part of me that wanted it so desperately.

I think it's of massive importance for our self-esteem and the personal level of acceptance that we all struggle for as gay and lesbian people, for us to simply know that this part of our dreams is even capable of coming true.

I'm thinking about getting married. I am in love with my partner, deeply madly in love with him, and though I am not ready to propose yet, it is in there. I have always said that I wasn't going to do it until I could do it legally, and now that we can and it's real, there is even a little bit of pressure now, like "I can't use that excuse anymore." It's a kind of pressure that, say, my sister has always had going into a relationship, wondering if this is the one and what about popping the question, and when do you do it and how do you know. But I have lived in ignorance of that until today.

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Rosie O'Donnell posted this picture of herself and wife Kelly Carpenter O'Donnell on her blog with these three simple and beautiful words: love now legal...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: "I respect the Court's decision and as Governor, I will uphold its ruling. Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling."

(The state legislature had passed a marriage bill twice only to be vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger both times.)

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California State Senator Sheila Kuehl in an interview with The Advocate said of Schwarzenegger's statement: "I thought it was generous and wonderful of the governor that literally 10 minutes after the opinion was announced, he issued a statement backing the opinion of the court. He said that he would uphold the opinion, and he said he would come out in opposition to any attempts to strike it down. "

Kuehl, a former actress, told The Advocate about how she heard the news and her reaction: About one minute to 10 a.m., people started gathering around my desk, and when we were able to get the document, we started going through [Chief Justice Ronald] George's opinion. Then at about 11 a.m., the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee was on the phone with Justice George, and so I got a chance to get on the phone with him and I got to thank him. Then, Justice Joyce Kennedy was in the building, speaking in favor of an appointment nominee, so I went down to the chambers and spoke with her too.

How will she celebrate this victory? "I already have tickets to the theater, so I can't go to the big party in West Hollywood. But I felt like I got the best of my world today because my friends in the legislature were all here. We went through all the gay bills together over the past decade -- the students bill, the hate-crimes amendment, the fair employment act. We've got a great group here."

This just in from Lambda Legal: It's an unforgettable day for same-sex couples and advocates of fairness and opportunity across the nation! The California Supreme Court has ruled that the state may no longer exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage. We are so proud.

Lead counsel NCLR, Lambda Legal, the ACLU and Equality California have been fighting for this victory for four years and today we have made history! But we must all do what we can to make sure that discrimination is not written into the state constitution in California through a ballot initiative.

Just a few weeks back, I posted about Thomas Roberts, wondering what the heck happened to him and why he wasn't on "The Insider" anymore. Well, we find out in the new issue of The Advocate which features for former CNN Headline News anchor on the cover. He was let go from the show in February.

Here are some excerpts:

A tall, muscular, classic hunk of a man, Roberts is the all-American matinee-idol version of a broadcaster, as opposed to, say, Anderson Cooper's effete, almost European vibe. But Roberts isn't talking to me today to name names or speculate about other people's careers and choices. He's here simply to talk about his own experience being gay in broadcasting -- which, for the most part, has been positive, despite what you may think.

Indeed, Roberts says, being gay has never held him back. "I've worked my ass off, I've been fortunate, and luck doesn't hurt either," he says. "If people don't like that I'm gay or that I talk about being gay, I'm sorry. Because that's not my problem."

On the photo scandal that hit the first week of his job at "The Insider" ...

It was September 6, Roberts's fourth day at The Insider, when the Manhunt photos were posted online last year. The next day, a Page Six item dripping with homophobia detailed the whole thing. The headline? "New Sex Mess Jolts Insider." Roberts had come out to California excited about the new gig -- he had spent the summer looking for a good opportunity like this -- and now he was faced with potential disaster.

So Roberts was out of a job -- but the blogger had made a name for himself. Funny thing is, if you go to his site now (and, full disclosure, he once discussed writing for The Advocate with me, though nothing came of it), you can't find the original item without some assiduous searching. Instead, you'll see links to the coverage it got -- and an undated photo of the blogger with Roberts at an event, both smiling. It's a paradox of contemporary fandom not unique to the gays: We love our stars, but we also love to tear them down.

I wonder if Cokie Roberts thought maybe I was some kind of weirdo groupie when we met the other day.

My great friend, Beth Barrett, was being honored Wednesday night at the Society of Professional Journalists awards at the Omni Hotel in downtown LA. She had called me in the afternoon and said, "We're all going to be there at 5:30 to buy Cokie Roberts' book."

Cokie was the event's keynote speaker and is promoting her latest best seller, "Ladies of Liberty." I get to the Omni a little before 6 p.m. and no Beth, no anybody. Except for a nice woman from SPJ who said hello and as I was talking to her, I suddenly noticed Cokie was standing next to her, was surprised, and said something like, "Oh my gosh! It's Cokie Roberts!" She kind of laughed nervously as she held a glass of red wine in her hand. I went on to say that I'd watched her for years on ABC's "This Week" and blah, blah,blah. Frankly, she could not have cared less.

I wandered off as they set up her table and stacks of books. Beth and co. were still NOWHERE (I later learned she and her entourage were over at the hotel bar!) so I'm lingering and other than the SPJ officer on hand, I'm the first person to buy Cokie's book. I waited for her to finish chatting with a woman who was clearly an old friend then approached her to sign my copy.

Cold. As. Ice.

I told her my name and mentioned that I also have her mother's book (her mom is former congresswoman Lindy Boggs). She handed me back the book with I think a slight smile and I walked away. I opened it and she had written, "To Greg, Cokie Roberts."

Gee thanks. not even an "Enjoy!" or "Best wishes" or "Thanks for shelling out $24 for this opus." I was actually kinda miffed. But the Cokie snub made for a pretty funny story once Beth and her gang finally arrived and we had some wine before dinner. I started getting really good at telling the tale and probably started to exaggerate as the wine took hold: "And then she SHUT the book on my hand!"

Oh well. Got home and Cokie was on Tavis Smiley's show hawking the book and she was smart and insightful as ever. The real reasons why I have long admired her anyway.

It was so nice to have an openly gay man on a national show like "The Insider" even if the show annoyed me with its five-part Ivanna Trump marriage coverage. Really. The woman is on her fourth husband and what exactly does she do anyway?

Okay, back to Thomas. Where the heck is he? He has been off of the show about as long as chronically troubled host Pat O'Brien who has done a few stints in rehab. It's no wonder they brought in squeaky clean Donny Osmond for awhile! Thomas, a former CNN Headline News anchor, seemed to ease into the job just fine with his "Truth or Rumor" segment and celeb interviews.

I'll keep ya posted if I find out anything.

He's such a kidder. Anderson knows full well that we are all concerned about whatever happens to his pretty face so he made a post to his CNN blog the other day explaining why he returned from a few days off with stitches under his eye:

On a personal note, I've been off for the last couple of days. I had minor surgery on Monday. A small spot of skin cancer was removed from under my left eye. I hadn't planned on mentioning this, but I still have stitches and you'll no doubt notice them tonight. Don't want you to think I got into a fist fight with Charlie Rose.

Thomas Roberts, the former CNN Headline News anchor, has a new job: he debuts Sept. 10 as a correspondent for the syndicated show "The Insider" which runs as a time-slot companion to "Entertainment Tonight." It should be a high-profile gig for this openly gay broadcaster who will be more handsome than most of the movie stars he interviews.
Roberts left CNN less than two months after appearing on Anderson Cooper 360 where he discussed his sexual abuse by a priest from age 14 to 17. 34-year-old Roberts joined CNN in December 2001. His contract was to have run until February 2008.
At the time, he said he was leaving Atlanta to relocate to Washington D.C. to be with his partner.
It was nearly a year ago that Thomas Roberts spoke very publicly at the National Gay and Lesbian Journaists convention in Miami about being a gay man working as an anchor on CNN. He did so in a very small room packed with journalists - with computers - so accounts of the session were reported quickly. Roberts seemed so relaxed the whole weekend, laying out by the pool, chatting up new friends. He left the convention kind of a rock star because we were all so impressed with how he conducted himself and let's face it, we all thought he was REALLY hot.

The NLGJA convention is in San Diego this year and starts next week. I'll be there as part of my "vacation." I wish I could write that Roberts would be there speaking as an opnely gay CNN anchor but whatever the reason, his star did not continue to rise. Thomas was marginalized pretty quickly, losing his Headline News anchor spot during a "restructuring." I had done a brief interview with him in Miami and wanted to do an in-depth one for The Advocate but there was some weirdness going on that I hope will one day be explained. Roberts seemed to want to do it and we exchanged several e-mails but he had to let CNN's PR department handle the request and they put the kibosh on it.
Roberts has never spoke out against CNN or complained about its treatment of him. Maybe now, once he's settled into his new gig, we will find out what really happened once his sexuality became so public. Anderson Cooper, as we all know, remains the network's biggest star.
He never discusses his private life.

When I was a kid, I never missed one of Barbara Walters celebrity specials. Who would she be visiting this time? Elizabeth Taylor? Katherine Hepburn? John Wayne? Bette Davis? And maybe one day, maybe, she'd interview ME and ask, "What kind of a tree are you?"
Well, obviously, Babs hasn't gotten around to me yet. But over the years I've seen her interview celebs ranging from Bing Crosby, Lucille Ball and James Stewart to Tom Cruise, Diana Ross and Cher to Streisand, Bette Midler and Audrey Hepburn. Not to mention Oprah, Arnold, Jane Fonda, Eddie Murphy, Farrah Fawcett, Johnny Carson, Richard Pryor, Lauren Bacall, Elton John, Shirley MacLaine, George Clooney, Clint Eastwood, Warren Beatty, and Marlo and Phil. The list, literally, goes on and on and on.
Most of those celebrities have a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame and in a ceremony later today, Barbara Walters will join them with a star of her very own. Hers will be located across from the Kodak Theatre and she and whoever is left on "The View" will join her since they are all in town for Friday's Daytime Emmys. Her star is so well-deserved for those celebrity specials alone, which used to come on FOUR times a year but now are limited to Oscar night and a year-end 10 Most Fascinating People thing.
I gotta say, it's a little sad to see Walters all over this Paris Hilton thing even if she scored the exclusive jailhouse telephone interview with the celebutante. I mean, from Hepburn to Hilton? C'mon!
For the record, Katherine Hepburn said she'd be an oak tree, "strong and pretty."
What kind of a tree would Paris be?

Headline News anchor Thomas Roberts left CNN on May 1, TVNewser has confirmed.
"After five years, he has decided to leave us, with intentions to settle in the Washington, D.C., area," Ken Jautz wrote in a memo on Monday. His final major on-air appearance came last month, as he recounted being sexually abused by a priest for a 360 special hosted by Anderson Cooper.
Jautz's memo said Roberts will be "pursuing new journalistic opportunities." TVNewer wonders: Is it related to this tip/question: "What Headline News anchor has inked a syndication deal?"
Last fall, Roberts did a really brave thing in Miami at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Assn. Convention: he appeared on a panel to discuss what it's like to be a gay anchor. Although he hadn't been in the closet at the cable network, it was a major step toward becoming more public about who he is.
Coincidentally or not, the mid-afternoon Headline News show he anchored was pulled off the air and he never appeared as prominently on the network again, relgated to reporting and weekend anchor shifts.
In Miami, Roberts told us he has spent too many years being "very, very buttoned up."
"I wasted way too much time worrying about this and I didn't want to do it anymore," he said. "There's no more time to lie."
What gave Roberts the courage to be out to be out from the beginning at CNN was a change in priorities and the realization that living a double life, even for a very promising career, isn't really living.
"My personal life is much more important to me than the professional," he said. "It switched for me in my late 20s."
So when he was interviewing at CNN, he asked the recruiter if it was going to be a safe environment for him, a gay man, even though he wasn't asked if he was gay or not during that or any other interview.
"When you hold something back, that's all anybody wants to know...and it becomes bigger than it is."
At CNN, Roberts co-anchored the network's coverage of the Columbia Space Shuttle tragedyin 2003 as well as the war in Iraq. He also reported from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and also covered the 2004 presidential election. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2002, the year after he won the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award.
"I do hope that for younger journalists and people coming up, that they can have an example out there of people who have found a safe haven and have had success because he's a scary business," Roberts told me im Miami. "CNN was extremely supportive of me."
Good luck Thomas!

Steve Kmetko, by far the best anchor E! News Daily ever had - is getting ready to say goodbye to Hollywood.
Kmetko also anchored E! News Weekend and was E!'s correspondent covering the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, Cannes Film Festival and many other high-profile events. He also spent 11 years at KCBS in Los Angeles and appeared frequently as a CBS This Morning entertainment reporter. His most recent regular TV gig was anchoring QTN World News on the now-defunct Q Television Network.
I bumped into Steve at the opening night party for Q-MeCon and asked him what he's been up to. He told me his alma mater, Columbia College in Chicago, has asked him to join the television department and teach some courses starfing with the fall semester in September. "I've lived [in LA] for 25 years and Chicago's my home and I'm ready to go home and do something else - Chapter Three."
He's still open to doing some television and there has been some interest from some Chicago stations "so, you never know what might happen."
Kmetko was disappointed at the financial collapse of Q Television last year, but he is not at all impressed with the two remaining gay channels.
"I think here! and Logo could do a better job than they're doing in reaching the gay community and giving us something substantive to listen to and think about. They need to aim higher - they couldn't aim lower. I thought Q was doing what we're supposed to do in terms of bringing news of interest to the gay community. 'Dante's Cove'? And Logo is like MTV, they show the same thing over and over again. I think there's a place out there for people who are gay to learn something."

In case you missed it, CNN is scheduled to re-air Anderson Cooper's terrific interview with his colleague Thomas Roberts, titled "sins of the Father," on Monday where Roberts discusses the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a trusted family chaplain.
"I had a lot of hesitation," Roberts tells People magazine about speaking out. "You worry about what everybody thinks of you."
I'm a little dismayed by some of the reaction I've been reading on the Internet. People are disappointed or downright pissed that Thomas did not mention being gay or that it was not stated at all during the piece. Some feel that Cooper dodged that area because of all the mystery/speculation/interest surrounding his own sexuality.
Here's my take: As for as Anderson Cooper goes, I give him the benefit of the doubt that his not focusing on the openly-gay Roberts' sexuality was a journalistic decision. He's a terrific journalist and does not seem uncomfortable about his sexuality. He just chooses not to talk about it, period. That's his right.
As for Roberts, he has been out for years and in case anyone didn't know, his appearance last fall on a panel about being gay in the new biz at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Assn. convention left no doubt. So let's focus on the actual story here which is about a man who suffered greatly in his life because of the sexual abuse and is now ready to taik about it.
In the interview with People, he recalls a suicide attempt at the age of 14 because he felt that the abuse had to end: "I just wanted to fade away." Rev. Jerome Toohey Jr. comforted Roberts, then molested him for another two years.
"What happened to me was a selfish and disgusting thing to do to a kid," Roberts says. "I thought I'd go to my grave with this secret." The news anchor believes he buried the experience for so long because "I didn't want to understand the severity of what he had done to me. I didn't want to be a victim."
Roberts, 34, now says he feels ready to move on with his life: "I feel like I've been through a ring of fire. Being on this side feels so much better."

Came in from the pool long enough tonight to catch Anderson Cooper's interview with openly gay anchor Thomas Roberts who told the heartbreaking story of being molested as a child by his priest. I'm glad he's
telling his story, it cannot be easy. I dashed off some notes but I think I'll post the story in his own words:

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- I became a victim of sexual abuse at the age of 14; the abuse lasted three years. It took me nearly 20 years to gather the strength to help put my abuser behind bars. Now, a year after "justice" was done, I am ready to tell my story publicly in ways I never have before. My abuser was Father Jeff Toohey, a trusted man of God. He was the equivalent of a religious celebrity in my private all-boys Catholic school in Baltimore, Maryland. Father Jeff was every boy's friend and mentor. I considered him my mentor as well.

When my parents divorced, I was sent to Father Jeff to help me cope with all the changes. Divorce in the mid-1980s still seemed so foreign. Plus, I was just a kid, and I didn't know much about divorce. I just knew it sucked. All I had at that time in my life was my family and school. Those were my constants. But as my family fell apart, so did my life at school. After the abuse began, high school became a prison of shame and lies.

I felt trapped. My parents would be horrified to know their failure at marriage put their son at risk to be sexually abused and that the man abusing me was the high school chaplain and beloved priest. The school would never believe me, I thought, and I feared I would be expelled if I revealed the abuse. I was 14, with no voice, except the one in my head saying, "You can never tell the truth about what is happening."

Roughly a month after the abuse started, I attempted to commit suicide. I took a bottle of my mother's pills. I lined them up one-by-one on my maple dresser. I took them all and lay on my bed hoping to just fade away and die. My sister, Patsy, came home and found me. It was the day before her 18th birthday. She saved my life that day just by merely coming to my room to say, "Hi." She saw the pill bottle and went to get ipecac, which made me throw up.

My parents were terribly upset by my actions. Father Jeff was told I tried to kill myself. All agreed I just needed more counseling. Father Jeff's exact words were, "You have so much to live for." I felt so cornered, and I had nowhere to go and no one to run to. I just became numb to the abuse. "This too shall pass" is one of my favorite religious sayings. The abuse did pass, but it left me so insecure about who I was.

When I was in college, another boy, Michael Goles, came forward and reported his abuse at the hands of Father Jeff. I knew I could help Michael if I, too, revealed Father Jeff's abuse, but out of a feeling of self-preservation, I remained quiet. Michael wasn't believed, and his case was thrown out of court.

Nearly 20 years after the abuse started, I became strong enough to go back and confront what had happened to me. I was strong enough to tell my family the truth. I was strong enough to report it to the archdiocese. And I was strong enough to call Michael Goles and tell him, "I am sorry," and that I believe him because it happened to me, too.

Together, we were strong enough to see our abuser finally admit his crimes. Father Jeff was charged with 10 criminal counts of child sexual abuse in relation to my case. He asked for a plea and admitted his guilt in court. He was sentenced to five years in jail but only served 10 months. He was released early to serve eight months in home detention.

This story is so layered. For a long time, I couldn't talk about it without crying. But a year ago, CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper and CNN Senior Producer Charlie Moore approached me about telling and following my story. I was scared. I was scared of being so honest and televising this journey.

What would people think? Would I ruin my career? But I came to the conclusion that I will not be scared anymore. I will not be scared of telling the truth because it might be uncomfortable for people to hear.

If this story compels even one person to seek help for being sexually abused, then it is all worth it. All it takes is telling one person. From there, strength grows and you can tell a second person and so on. Then you can finally have control of your life back.

Anderson Cooper will speak with openly gay fellow CNN newsman Thomas Roberts on Monday, March 12th at 10:30 in an AC360 piece entitled "Sins of the Father," Towleroad.com reports. Roberts will discuss the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a priest between 1987 and 1989 when he was a student at Calvert Hall College High School, a Catholic school for boys.
Roberts, who was then anchoring an afternoon block of CNN Headline News but has since lost that gig, caused a stir when he publicly came out of the closet last year during a panel discussion at a National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association conference in Miami. He expressed disappointment in December about a judge's decision to give Roman Catholic priest Jerome F. Toohey Jr., a more lenient sentence. Here are a few excerpts from the show obtained by Towleroad:
Roberts on the abuse: "It's probably the worst place you can be in your life. Because there's so much shame that goes along with this. There's secrecy. There's shame. There's self-hatred, self-doubt. Uh, every mixed up emotion you can have that you don't feel you can talk to anybody. It was the most twisted and turned-around environment that I could have ever have been in and coming from a place of struggle as a child and into a young boy. It was a prison. I mean it was like backing me into a corner with nowhere to go. I was robbed here. Of my self-respect, of my own image. You know part of my soul even. This place paralyzed me thinking I would die with this secret. I would die with this secret."

Andy Towle notes: No word on whether or not Anderson will ask him the question no doubt many would like to hear: how has coming out of the closet affected your news anchor career?

I know this is kind of a silly item, spotted in the New York Post, but I'm gonna post it anyway because it's been a little bit of a slow news day:
-- ANDERSON Cooper, one of New York's most eligible men, appeals to both genders. When a lunch date with the CNN anchor went on the block at the Puck Building the other night at the benefit for Bailey House, which helps AIDS victims, British bachelor Oliver Hicks bid aggressively and won the date for $21,000. Hicks, who shuttles between New York and Los Angeles, runs production company North Six. "The invitation allows him to bring a companion, but I have a feeling he will go solo," said one source. "Anderson is cute," said Hicks. --
Now for my two-cents: I agree that Anderson is cute. Very cute. And smart. But $21,000 for lunch with him??? I. Don't. Think. So.

The first time I laid eyes on CNN Headline News anchor Thomas Roberts, it wasn't on a television screen. It was poolside at the Lowes Hotel in Miami Beach. I was reading my New York Times and trying to get a little sun between sessions at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association connvention last September. I just looked over and thought, "That guy is HOT!" As handsome as he appears on television, he's even better looking poolside in swimming trunks.
But I digress.
The next day, I was among the people sitting in on a panel of newscasters who were discussing being a gay on-air personality. The guy from the pool, Thomas Roberts, was on that panel. He was very articulate and honest and we were all v ery impressed. He was out at CNN but this panel, attended by dozens of journalists, made news because many of us went back and posted blog items about it (see related posts below).
At the time of the convention, Roberts had the plum slot of anchoring an afternoon broadcast. I wanted to interview him for The Advocate and we traded emails after the convention. In the end, CNN nixed it. The afternoon broadcast was cancelled soon after (apparently not due to Roberts' public disclosure) and he has not been as high profile since. The terrific Website GayBeacon.com points out this week that if you want to see this handsome and appealing anchor, you must do so in the wee hours or on weekends.
I wonder what gives...
Related Posts:
CNN Anchor Thomas Roberts Speaks Out Against Priest
Gay CNN Anchor Thomas Roberts Clears the Air
Out on the airwaves

Miguel Marquez called last week as he was preparing to depart for Bahgdad where he will spend roughly a month reporting for ABC News. We met at the holiday party thrown by the LA chapter of the National Gay & Lesbian Journalists Assn. last month and I, of course, asked him to give an interview to Out In Hollywood about his job as a Los Angeles-based national correspondent for the network and about being an openly gay man in the television news business.
"It's very important for people to know you can be gay and do anythng you want to in the world," he says. "We tend to discount how important it is to have role models when we live in cities where being gay is so accepted. To me, what I strive for is to be comfortable out without putting it in people's faces. As a reporter, I’m there to be fly on the wall and kind of absorb the story."
While he is in Bahgdad, Marquez is reporting for "ABC World News," "Good Morning America," "Nightline," ABC.com, ABC radio and for Canada's CBC. This is his fifth ("or maybe sixth") trip to Iraq since joining ABC in 2005 from CNN where he was also an L.A.-based correspondent.
"ABC was willing to put me overseas. I was there about 4-5 months when they called and I went. By the time I got there, it was already pretty much this tightrope situation that we're in now. Now I’m one of the people who they ask to go. There’s a list of correspondents who are willing to go and I’m one of the dumb ones [laughs]. It's my first war zone. My background is in politics."
But sometimes, politics comes to Bahgdad as they did when Secretary of State Condi Rice came for a visit during Marquez's watch: "It was her second visit to Baghdad. That is the biggest person I’ve ever interviewed. It was very stressful,. in the Green Zone in the U.S. Embassy compound."
Marquez, 39, came out as a gay man even before he entered television news. He was working in Washingtion D.C. as a legislative assistant for Bill Richardson, then a congressman from New Mexico's third district. (Marquez grew up in the small town of Santa Rosa, New Mexico).
"When I did it, I was only sorry I hadn't done it earlier," he says of coming out. “ABC has been very, very great. It's so comfortable here and CNN was also very comfortable with the whole gay thing. Every media company that l've worked with has been fine."
Marquez left Washington and politics behind to try his luck at producing television documentaries. He attended Columbia Journalism School and right out of school, got hired for a plum job on WNBC in New York, the station that launched Matt Lauer's career. But Marquez knew he was too green and barely kept his head above water during the year he was there. He then spent three years working at the FOX affiliate in Pheonix, Ariz. before CNN hired him.
He hasn't looked back.
"It's great to be on a big story," he says. "I really got bit by the bug."
Marquez has only given the rare interviews about himself ("I don't know how important it is to do tons") but has great respect for CNN Headline News' Thomas Roberts who got all kinds of attention last fall when he participated in a panel discussion at the NLGJA conference in Miami about being a gay anchor. Roberts was already out but the appearance made him far more public. In addition, Roberts had been on the enws for speaking out at the trial of a priest who had molested him as a child.
"He had a much different situation being much higher profile with that trial," Marquez says. "He’s comfortably out. He wasn't hiding. At the convention, there was a lot of coverage. It was the brave thing to do his part, to pursue that [case against the priest]. That put him in an awkward position to cover the news and become the news."
But being in television news these days requires a lot more than just doing television. Marquez has been a prolific presence on ABC.com, the network's webcast, and he's enthusiastic about it: “I try to do as much as possible ABC.com. It’s fun to do. ABC .com is very aggressive now. They want us filing for the Internet as much as possible. With television, you are often frustrated you don't get three-quarters of what you found on the air. It's a different animal now. I've shot my own pieces, I've blogged."

Well, from one reporter/blogger to another...THANK YOU!!!