Written by:
Katie Brown
Photographer:
Chloe Atkins
Rachel Maddow, 21, believes she is the first out lesbian to be named a Rhodes Scholar. The Stanford University graduate will leave in October to study at Oxford University, where she expects to earn a master's degree in politics. She was one of thirty-two Americans -- seventeen of them women -- to be awarded the prestigious scholarship.
Although other Rhodes Scholars have come out as queer once they reached Oxford, Maddow says she had no choice but to go through the arduous selection process as an out lesbian: "I couldn't have made a case for myself if I had been closeted. So much of my political involvement is tied up in me being a big dyke," she says. "I was expecting to have to be very defensive, but the committees seemed to be very cool." She believes that her achievement as an out lesbian will encourage other applicants for the scholarship to come out. Scholars are selected based on academic, athletic and leadership achievements and community involvement. During and since college, Maddow has worked with organizations addressing homelessness and gay and lesbian issues. Upon graduating from Stanford she won a fellowship at the AIDS Legal Referral Panel in San Francisco, where she now works. After her two years at Oxford, Maddow expects to continue working on AIDS issues. "Hopefully, in the long term there won't be a need for AIDS work, but if there is I would keep doing AIDS public policy and social justice policy issues."
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