Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 30, 1994 TAG: 9401300172
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
They didn't know he was gay. And neither did anyone else.
Roberts revealed the truth in December 1986 on radio talk shows and in letters to the editor.
Now a self-proclaimed gay activist, Roberts, 46, is urging other homosexuals to come out of the closet.
"You just beat yourself up as a closeted gay person," said Roberts, who, in his words, "tore the closet down with a bulldozer."
While there is nothing easy about coming out in a small city like Fredericksburg, it is up to the gay community to change negative attitudes toward homosexuals, Roberts said.
"Anybody can be gay in New York or San Francisco or Washington," said Roberts, who has lived just outside Fredericksburg since he was 3 years old.
He estimates only about 3 percent of the gay population in the Fredericksburg area openly acknowledge being homosexual and said "there are some who would deny it until hell froze over."
Roberts said the decision to reveal his long-kept secret resulted in pressures within his company to resign and sent him into depression. He also received phone calls from anti-gay residents.
"It was a very painful experience," he said.
People like Roberts eventually will force a change of attitude about homosexuals in small-town America, said Cathy Renna, co-chairwoman of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
"This really is sort of the next frontier for our movement," Renna said. "In the end, I think it will be a great thing for the community. The more visible we are, the better it is."
Robert Knight, director of cultural studies for the Family Research Council in Washington, disagreed with Renna. "While hatred of homosexuals is wrong, society cannot promote homosexual behavior and still have any conscience left," Knight said. "Let's let small towns have small-town values."
Renna said gays in small towns have a harder time, because they lack the numerous support groups and gathering places found in larger cities.
Roberts, who now works as a courier for a land development company, is convinced that his effort to bring other gays out of the closet will not only save them from emotional problems, but may also save their lives.
Gay teen-agers are three times more likely to commit suicide than other teens, according to a 1989 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
"That's a big part of being a gay activist," Roberts said. "You see that number, and it's a reality to you. It's not something that most of us haven't thought about at one time or another."
Roberts maintains that his push to bring other gays out into the community will help dispel myths and stereotypes associated with homosexuality.
He said he will continue his fight to change society's perception and awareness of the gay community.
"I'm not going to let them convince me that I need to crawl back in the closet," he said.
by CNB