Rachel Maddow in New York Magazine

New York Magazine has an amazing interview with my girlfriend, Rachel Maddow.

[Rachel and her girlfriend are] both nonchalant about the fact that Maddow is the first openly gay woman to host a prime-time news show.

“We kind of forget we’re gay,” says Mikula. “We live in western Mass and New York and it’s very accommodating. Every once and a while I’ll say, ‘Oh my God, we’re gay.’ ”

“I’ve been out most of my life,” says Maddow. “I don’t feel like I have a choice about it. I look gay.”

Mikula has shared in some of the decision-making about The Rachel Maddow Show, encouraging her partner to wear makeup—without it, “she looked like a dead person”—and providing wardrobe advice. Maddow has long prided herself on her androgynous appearance; early in her radio career, the hosts at her morning show once took her out on the street to have passersby try to guess her gender as a stunt.

I think so much of Maddow's appeal is the sense that she is absolutely comfortable in her own skin. She is brilliant, yes, and her ease frees up her brain to work even more effectively.