Remembering Louis Rove

I read with interest your Short Answers column "The Man Who Outed Karl Rove's Dad" [October 10]. I first met Louis Rove in 1994 when I was a new volunteer at the Desert AIDS Project in Palm Springs, Calif., and Louis was the longest-serving member of DAP's buddies support group. Louis asked me about my last name, and we discovered he and my mother and father were friends, having attended Colorado School of Mines together in the late 1940s.

Louis and I became friends and saw a lot of each other until Louis left the buddies program after 10 years, having lost too many clients. I last saw him playing cards at a local resort in late 2003 or early 2004. Later, as secretary of the Desert Stonewall Democrats, I learned that Karl Rove's father had died, and none of his gay friends were allowed at the funeral. It didn't dawn on me that Louis was Karl's father until I saw Karl on TV animatedly saying the "gay agenda" had to stop.

At that point I suddenly came to the realization that I had known Karl Rove's stepfather, Louis. I did my investigation, and my article on the Roves ran in all 300 copies of the "Desert Stonewall News" in 2005, where no one commented on it. Thanks to James Moore and Wayne Slater for now bringing this news to the nation.

I hope one day Karl Rove will appreciate his stepfather as much as the gay community does.

BOB WARBURTON Casper, Wyo.

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