Robin Roberts: ‘I was afraid people couldn't think I could be a Christian and gay’
Photo: Naima Green / Illustration: EEW Magazine Online
Article By Tania Hendrix // LGBTQ+ // EEW Magazine Online
Depending on you who ask, being a gay Christian is an oxymoron, but if you ask Robin Roberts, it’s just the reality of her life, though she once feared how others would respond.
“I was afraid people couldn't think I could be a Christian and gay,” said the Good Morning America anchor in a People Magazine exclusive for the publication’s 2022 Pride issue.
Some conservative Christians believe that homosexuality is a sin and same-sex relationships are an abomination to God. Despite this belief remaining pervasive, Roberts chose to take the risk of speaking her truth anyway.
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“I realized, if somebody who looks like me was to come along, maybe I could give them a little more courage. Maybe they would know they were not walking alone,” said the 61-year-old.
“For the longest time, before I came out publicly in 2013, I would think, ‘Well, everybody knows I am gay. My family knows I am gay. My colleagues, bosses,’” she said.
However, her romantic relationship with her partner, Amber Laign, was not fully public – yet. “If I was walking down the street, I would introduce Amber. But I wasn't ready to say it publicly, even though I felt that I was being public,” Roberts explained.
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But after overcoming her harrowing battle with cancer, as the grateful survivor wrote a thank you post on Facebook, there was someone she couldn’t imagine leaving out. “I didn't come out necessarily for me. I did it because I love Amber. I was just thanking everybody. I did it via a simple social media post where I thanked my doctors, my parents. But then, was I not going to thank this woman who had been by me through this illness?”
Since that time, the media personality said, “People ask me about Amber like they would if her name was Andy. Sometimes I have to pause and take that in.”
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Roberts who owns her identity as “gay, and Black, and a woman,” said, “I'm not an activist. I say God bless the activists because what they do is so important. But I think I've spawned activism in people.”
