Rachel is a lesbian, out and open on the air, and as far as I know she is the first out anchorwoman in the States. She refers to her partner about as often as any anchor refers to his or her spouse.

She is also phenomenally good at her job – good enough to be drawing an amazing crossover audience. She has a PhD in public policy, razor-sharp debating skills, and is almost single-handedly bringing courtesy and thoughtful discourse back to cable news.

Dr. Maddow and I have never met or corresponded, and I don’t have any reason to expect we will do so.

I do the column because I think Rachel Maddow and her career are newsworthy, I enjoy the show, I enjoy doing the column, and 365 pays me.

Ali, I read many of your other columns, and you are a great reporter. You even do a nice summary of Rachel’s show, but I fail to see the relevance. It’s kinda like getting a synopsis of Google News. Since you are a good reporter, I’m sure there is a reason for this intense scrutiny of the Rachel Show.

Please confirm one or more of the following:

Rachel is a lesbian, out and open on the air, thus her every show is of relevance to the community.

Rachel is the most popular anchor in the US (I don’t live there) and is a lesbian who’s out n proud.

Rachel, on an almost daily basis, discusses matters directly related to the life of US gays.

Rachel, who is a lesbian, sprinkles her broadcasts with homoerotic commentary, much as unGay anchors sprinkle their prattle with heteroerotic allusions and assumptions.

Ali and(or) Rachel are/were/(wish to be) romantically involved.

Rachel is the first out lesbian anchorwoman, and thus worthy of our attention.

Rachel is a phenomenally good reporter; she’s the next Cronkite, the next Baba Wawa, the next Jon Stewart. She’s going to change America.

If any of the above are true, then I see a somewhat valid reason for this daily digest. If, however, there are better reasons to follow Rachel’s every utterance, please let us know. I’m completely stumped, and have been for months.

And a suggestion: why not cover Anderson Cooper’s every move as well? While that poor little rich boy may not see a reason to come out of the closet, certainly all gay men know about Anderson… He’s that guy that has ABSOLUTELY nothing to lose by coming out, yet won’t. NPR’s Terry Gross is another person well worth our interest: she almost always mentions samesexers when relevant. She ferrets out homophobia whenever she encounters it.

You have the full benefit of the doubt here, Ali. There must be a good reason for this seemingly out-of-place rehash of a daily news show. Is the Rachel show related to gay365.com? Are you all part of Beatrice Foods?

For those of us without access to US TV, perhaps a subtitle for the column could clear up this mystery for your non-US readers.

Thank you Ali, and I’m sorry to ask a question that I’m sure you’ve been asked a hundred times… It’s just so perplexing!