ISSUES: Out newsman Thomas Roberts: “If viewers know me professionally, why not know me personally?”

Openly gay TV journalist Thomas Roberts is not only working for MSNBC right now, but that he is bringing a gay perspective to stories when he feels it’s appropriate.

“If viewers know me professionally, why not know me personally?” he said in an interview with Andrew Bolonsky for Death & Taxes. “I mean, to a point we all have our private lives, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with my personal life, so why not share it with everybody?”

That was exactly what some suggested after Roberts interjected his personal experience into an interview about Ken Mehlman’s coming out last month. “I think for probably most heterosexual Americans this isn’t going to come as a big deal, but I think for millions of gay and lesbian Americans—me included—find this to be kind of a shocking admission,” he told his guest, gay Republican activist Chris Barron.

Says Roberts: “For all the people watching that interview, it added a point of interest coming from a person that understands why some people would want to know why this person chose to come out. I was curious.”