TOP NEWS ANCHOR: GAYS HAVE RESPONSIBILITY TO COME OUT

Openly lesbian news anchor Rachel Maddow says that she believes that her gay and lesbian colleagues should come out the closet.

Maddow, 38, who has become one of the highest profile news anchors and political commentators in America with her popular MSNBC television news programme, The Rachel Maddow Show, made the statement in an interview with the Guardian.

When asked by the newspaper about her thoughts on “an equally well-known news presenter who is widely assumed to be gay but has never come out” – presumed to refer to CNN’s Anderson Cooper – Maddow responded:

“I’m sure other people in the business have considered reasons why they’re doing what they’re doing, but I do think that if you’re gay you have a responsibility to come out.”

Maddow has been with her partner, artist Susan Mikula, since 1999. She was recently named the fourth most powerful gay or lesbian person in the US by OUT magazine.

Despite not being out, Cooper was rated at number three on the list. He has refused to discuss his private life saying that it could affect his role as a journalist.

“The whole thing about being a reporter is that you’re supposed to be an observer and to be able to adapt with any group you’re in, and I don’t want to do anything that threatens that,” he previously told New York Magazine.

Maddow has since posted a response to the Guardian article insisting that her comment was not referring to Cooper.

“Although criticism of Mr. Cooper was intimated by The Guardian and picked up everywhere – I did not make that criticism in the interview, nor did I imply it, nor is it what I believe,” she said.