‘GMA’ weatherman Sam Champion engaged to longtime boyfriend

Sam Champion, weatherman on “Good Morning America,” is engaged to be married — and in announcing his wedding plans, he quietly became the first morning-show co-anchor to come out to the public as gay.

“We are thrilled and so excited and thank everyone for their good wishes,” Champion said on behalf of himself and boyfriend Rubem Robierb, a Miami-based, Brazilian-born fine-arts photographer.

Champion is likely to discuss his plans on “GMA” Monday, according to the New York Times’ Media Decoder blog, which noted his “first” status. His sexual orientation had been no secret, however, to “colleagues and competitors in the media industry,” the blog said.

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The news was initially spilled in a New York Times article Friday about the wedding of another couple in Manhattan.

Champion, a guest at his colleague’s wedding, declared to the Times that nuptials were planned for New Year’s Eve in Miami, with Robierb then filling in a few of the details: “We’ll do it here officially,” he said, as same-sex marriage is legal in New York, “and then have a party in Miami.”

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PHOTOS: Celebrity portraits by The Times