She attended the University of Oregon as an Honors College student, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in December 1965.

Roberts began her career as a caseworker with the State Public Welfare Department in Portland and then as a counselor for the Multnomah County juvenile court.

Roberts was elected in 1972 to the Oregon House of Representatives and served as a member of the Joint Ways and Means Committee.

[6] When President George H. W. Bush twice vetoed the national bill, Roberts was often quoted in The New York Times, which also published her op-ed column on the subject.

[5] Roberts was in the advisory committee to the United States Department of Labor for shaping the national act and it was the first one signed by President Bill Clinton when he took office in 1993.

Roberts was an early champion of civil rights protections, on the basis of sexual orientation, winning state awards for leadership.

Roberts married Richard Prentice Bullock in November 1976, had one child, Alexandra, born in 1980, while she was in office as Oregon Commissioner of Labor, but divorced her first husband in 1984.