Because news helps people stay up-to-date on the happenings of the world, it’s important to have journalists who reflect the world we live in. A person’s sexual orientation and gender identity can affect their social outlooks — that’s why we’ve compiled this list of 20 trailblazing LGBTQ+ news anchors and journalists, some of who have highlighted issues of social justice and equality in their newscasts.
Queer voices in the news become even more important as right-wing parties around the world embrace homophobia and transphobia to advance their agendas. As such, LGBTQ+ news anchors are more likely to be able to see through the nonsense and shine a light on human rights in challenging contexts
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British Embassy in Washington/Under Creative Commons License
Eugene Daniels is an MSNBC commentator as well as Politico‘s White House correspondent. Starting this month, he will lead the White House Correspondents Association, becoming the first Black gay man to serve as the organization’s president.
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Robin Roberts is the anchor for ABC’s morning news program, Good Morning America. Before becoming the show’s anchor in 2005, Roberts worked for ESPN, and was the first woman to have a hosting role on NFL Primetime.
Robin Roberts isn’t the only gay anchor to appear on Good Morning America. Sam Champion was the show’s weather anchor between 2006 and 2013, when he left to join The Weather Channel. He’s rejoined ABC, however, as a fill-in anchor, and appeared on Dancing With the Stars in 2022.
Nora J.S. Reichardt is a local reporter for WOI-TV in Des Moines, Iowa. In 2022, she came out as transgender on-air in an interview with anchor Eva Andersen.
Comedy Central screenshot Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow has been hosting her MSNBC show since 2008, and had a show on the ill-fated left-leaning talk radio network Air America from 2004 to 2010. Maddow is an Emmy-award winning journalist with a doctorate in political science.
Marvia Malik joined the Pakistani television network Kohenoor TV in 2018, becoming the nation’s first transgender news anchor. She’s used her position to be a trans advocate, despite threats on her life, and she even survived an attack by two gunmen in 2023.
Dan Kloeffler has been one of the anchors of the cable news channel ABC News Live since 2010. While hosting a late-night episode of World News Now in 2011, he came out while reporting on gay actor Zachary Quinto, saying “I’m thinking I can lose my distraction about dating actors, for that one, maybe.”
Shutterstock Anderson Cooper
Anderson Cooper is one of the most visible LGBTQ+ news anchors out there. He hosts his own show on CNN and also appears on 60 Minutes as a correspondent. He started his career in 1989 working for Channel One News, a program syndicated to middle schools and high schools via satellite.
Thomas Roberts was a anchor on CNN Headline News throughout the 2000s, before joining MSNBC. In addition to his regular show, he also hosted the online show Out There with Thomas Roberts, which covered LGBTQ+ issues. He now hosts his own show, GAYGOODNEWS.
FOX News screen capture Shep Smith
While Fox News isn’t exactly known as welcoming to LGBTQ+ ideals, the out gay news anchor Shep Smith spent 23 years at the channel. Smith was also well-regarded by those outside the network as being willing to counter conspiracy theories despite the theories being repeated by other hosts on the channel.
India Willoughby has been working in the UK news industry since 1986. In 2017, she became the country’s first transgender national TV news anchor, hosting Channel 5’s lunch and evening news programs. She also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother and reported famous transphobe J.K. Rowling to police earlier this year after Rowling misgendered her.
Dan MacMedan-USA TODAY Jan 19, 2020; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Scott Evans arrives at the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium. Mandatory Credit: Dan MacMedan-USA TODAY
Scott Evans is an entertainment journalist who co-hosts Access Hollywood. Like Anderson Cooper, he got his start at Channel One News, anchoring the show from 2012 to 2015. He also serves on the Television Academy’s Board of Directors.
Facebook screenshot Jonathan Rachel Clynch
Jonathan Rachel Clynch is a reporter for the Irish national broadcaster RTÉ, and though he is comfortable with he/him pronouns, he is genderfluid and came out publicly in 2015. Clynch was supported by his bosses at RTÉ as well as the audience.
PBS reporter Eden Lane is the very first openly transgender broadcaster in the United States, and the first trans reporter to cover a major political event at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She’s also a reporter for Colorado Public Radio and had her own show, In Focus, on PBS Digital.
Screenshot/MSNBC Steve Kornacki
Steve Kornacki has been working as a journalist since 2002, but it was during the 2020 election when his work as a data analyst for MSNBC made him a minor celebrity. His “Kornacki Khakis” launched a fashion trend, and he ended up on People magazine’s list of the sexiest men alive that year.
Jane Velez-Mitchell hosted her own self-titled show on Headline News, and went on to launch UnchainedTV. She created the award-winning documentary Countdown to Year Zero, about the link between climate catastrophe and eating meat.
Anton Krasovsky is a Russian journalist, who is out as gay despite his country’s homophobic laws. He came out on-air in 2013 during a news program about the Russian “homosexual propaganda” ban. He was fired from the network — which he co-founded — and the episode was censored.
Chagmion Antoine is the first out bisexual newscaster on a major network. She was hired by CBS News in 2005, and has also hosted CBS News on Logo for the gay cable channel. She also hosted the Logo online show She Said What, which has been compared to The View.
Screenshot via ABC News Gio Benitez
Gio Benitez has been the co-anchor on Good Morning America Weekends since 2023. He has appeared on ABC’s other news programs, including Nightline and 20/20. His partner, Tommy DiDario, appears on Rachael Ray’s television show.
MSNBC screenshot Meagan Fitzgerald
Meagan Fitzgerald is a foreign correspondent for NBC News, working out of the London office. Fitzgerald celebrated Pride Month in 2019 by coming out on air during a report.
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