Gio Benitez

Over the course of his career with ABC News, Good Morning America cohost for Saturday and Sunday and ABC News transportation correspondent Gio Benitez has covered many significant news stories, including the Pulse nightclub shooting, El Chapo’s underground escape from a Mexican prison, and the Boston Marathon bombing. But perhaps the most personally significant story of all is the one he gets to tell as an out gay Cuban American on national news.

“When I think about the past year, I think of all who came before me, especially the trailblazers who made my seat at the GMA desk possible every weekend,” says Benitez, who became co-anchor of Good Morning America’s Saturday and Sunday broadcasts earlier this year.

“When I was growing up, I never saw a gay Latino represented on network news,” he adds. “Now I get to be that person, honoring my ancestors every time I get to say, ‘Good Morning America.’ It is the privilege I am most grateful for this year.”

Before joining ABC News in 2013, Benitez was a reporter for WFOR TV in Miami, where he covered the 2012 presidential election and the killing of Trayvon Martin. In June 2009, he made history when he became the first reporter to record a TV story entirely with an iPhone.

When making his debut on Good Morning America in May of this year, Benitez talked about the significance of his family’s journey from Cuba. “My family, that’s all I can think about at this moment,” he said. “I’m actually carrying with me my grandfather’s pocket watch, because I keep thinking about their journey to this country from Cuba, leaving everything behind.”

“The idea that we get to sit on this set, bearing the name of the country that gave them so much hope, it’s just everything to me.” @giobenitez