Thomas Roberts To Host Miss Universe In Russia Despite Anti-Gay Laws

MSNBC's openly gay anchor Thomas Roberts announced on Thursday that he will head to Russia in November to co-host Miss Universe in Moscow, despite Russia's anti-gay laws.

"It is a huge, visible opportunity for LGBT people," Roberts wrote in a post on MSNBC.com.

Roberts summarized the recent homophobic legislation passed under Russian President Vladimir Putin that attempts to "criminalize" and "stigmatize" the LGBT community in Russia.

But while Roberts expressed his outrage over the legislation, he nevertheless made very clear what is most important to him.

"These new Russian laws won’t stop Russians from being born LGBT and growing up to identify as such," Roberts wrote. "I go to prove there’s hope."

Roberts also discussed how "traditional" he and his husband are, enduring all of the "same things many long term couples experience."

"I am just like millions of LGBT people around the world. We are good, regular, hard-working people who come from solid families," he wrote.

Roberts said that his motivation to go to Russia is to show people exactly that.

"I choose to offer my support of the LGBT community in Russia by going to Moscow and hosting this event as a journalist, an anchor and a man who happens to be gay. Let people see I am no different than anyone else," he wrote.