News Anchor, Weatherman Gay Couple Talk Religious Background: “God Doesn’t Make Mistakes”

Local Texan TV power couple Stephen Morgan and Steven Romo’s uneasy religious upbringing in inspired them to reach out to LGBTQ+ youth

NBC News journalist Romo (37) and Fox Weather host Morgan (33), grew up in religious families. The gay couple talked with The Advocate about their religious background and the effect of their upbringing on them showing visibility for LGBTQ+ youth.

“As a young boy, I knew there was something different about me, but I grew up in the church, and I did my best to obey my parents,” Morgan told The Advocate.

Growing up thinking it’s wrong being gay, Morgan prayed and fasted over being gay and asked God to make a deal “between the two of us” to fix him. At one point, he came forward to some friends and said he was struggling with “same-sex attraction.”

“While I came out to them in hopes of being fixed, there was almost a courage that I found inside of me actually to speak up,” Morgan says.

For Romo, growing up was even less fortunate. His mother struggled at home with mental health and his father was an un-nurturing father who kept the house.

He started going to church with his family regularly at age 12. “I also learned that being gay was a sin,” Romo recalls, “according to them at least. And that I would have to change or, I guess, go to hell.”

Based on their life experience and the struggle with acceptance in their teens, the gay couple wants to be there for LGBTQ+ youth, especially the religious ones.

“Hearing about and learning about LGBTQ+ people at a young age will not spontaneously turn kids queer,” Romo wrote on the HuffPost.

“If I can be even a small part of that as just some random news dude, then I’m more than glad to share my story,” he says. “Maybe hearing that some random guys who have the same first name, which is confusing, in Houston can meet each other and fall in love just like straight couples do on TV and movies all the time [will help.]” 

Morgan agrees it’s important for LGBTQ+ youth to see themselves in the media, and says the science of meteorology is very open and he would encourage young people with an interest in climate science to pursue the career.

“God doesn’t make mistakes. Maybe some of us have long fingers or crooked toes or are short, or we’re tall, but when it comes to who I am, I’m gay,” he says