03/08/2007
Anderson Cooper to Interview Thomas Roberts on Priest Abuse
Anderson Cooper will speak with openly gay fellow CNN newsman Thomas Roberts this Monday, March 12th at 10:30 in an AC360 piece entitled "Sins of the Father" in which 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 came out of the closet publicly last year at a National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association conference in Miami, 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:
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."
Roberts on the judicial system:
"I don't know how to define justice in this. What's justice? I mean, what . . . do I get early release from this? No. You don't get early release from knowing what happened to you. Do you get early release from the shame and the secrets and the lies and the cover-up and all of that? You just don't. You just have to deal with the fact that that was your life. You did it, you had to put up with it to survive, and it'll be your story for the rest of your life. No early release from this story."
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?
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Posted 9:30 AM EST by Andy Towle in Anderson Cooper, Catholic Church, News, Religion, Thomas Roberts | Permalink
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I can tell he's really torn up about this. My heart goes out to him.
BTW, I'm seeing more of Thomas on CNN Headline News. I just saw him.
Posted by: Jack! | Mar 8, 2007 12:31:02 PM
I hope he makes it clear that the sexual abuse didn't make him gay. If that isn't made clear it will leave the fundies a wide open hole to drive their "ex-gay","people are turned gay through sexual abuse" propaganda truck through.
If inappropriate sexual relationships between teenagers and adults changed people's sexual orientation then I would have been turned straight when I was fifteen. Story for another day....
Posted by: Zeke | Mar 8, 2007 1:08:00 PM
Abuse of any sort is bad.
Why is the interviewer Anderson Cooper? There are other CNN reporters out there. Very good strategic programming.
And the wording "openly gay fellow CNN newsman", maybe we could jumble the words a bit.
Posted by: WTF | Mar 8, 2007 3:28:23 PM
Will be sure to watch...
Posted by: FanGirlHater | Mar 8, 2007 4:37:48 PM
I haven't seen Thomas Roberts as much since he came out. He used to have a more prominent role on HLN.
Posted by: Ron | Mar 8, 2007 5:31:23 PM
yeah, no fair...he's never on til super late. if at all.
Posted by: FanGirlHater | Mar 8, 2007 7:22:47 PM
Ron, he has an irregular schedule.
Posted by: Jack! | Mar 9, 2007 4:26:09 PM
Jack, ok thanks. That's too bad, I used to watch Thomas all of the time.
Posted by: Ron | Mar 11, 2007 1:56:25 PM
I agree with Zeke....I have some concerns that people (and by that, I mean straight folks) will automatically connect the dots between the abuse of Roberts and his sexuality.
I'm sure as a result Roberts' sexuality will be downplayed or not mentioned. And perhaps that's a wise choice in this case, since the story is about his abuse and the church....
Posted by: Patrick | Mar 12, 2007 12:03:34 PM
I was hoping some of his life , love life would be told to explaine how abuse can affect a realtionship. He has to be in a Good place in his life to not only come out of the closet but to talk about the abuse.
i think Cooper could perform the interview best because he would under stand boundries and not ask questions that would endanger his career.
also folk not int he know would link his abuse to his sexuality both of which have nothing to do with each other and casue him being openly gay not to hurt his career either.
If a false hood helps to save your paycheck sometimes it has to be used ina world that is kind of hateful to folk who do not think or act like they do.
Posted by: riley | Mar 13, 2007 2:08:28 PM
Thomas,
Thank you for bringing your story out into the light of day, and for working to make sure that more children are safe. We need to have more vicitms' stories out there so the public can identify the stories with a name, and feel the outrage! We know from experience the church will do nothing about this so the ordinary catholic in the pew is going to have to do his/her part. Like you, I suffered for years in silence. I was molested by a catholic sister. I was also a sister, but she was my superior. Finally, when I had my sucide planned, I knew I had to get help. But, it never goes away.
Thanks again,
Gabe Azzaro
Posted by: Gabrielle Azzaro | Mar 13, 2007 3:02:57 PM
Its a minor point, but the organization is actually NLGJA, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.
Posted by: Eric | Mar 16, 2007 4:22:58 PM
thank you for this great site
Posted by: issa | Oct 15, 2007 9:46:39 AM