HOLY SHIT!!! LA Times letter from Rush's Gay mentor- Norm Woodruff

[Dr Fate]

Los Angeles Times, May 19, 1985


Copyright 1985 The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times

All Rights Reserved
Los Angeles Times

May 19, 1985, Sunday, Home Edition

SECTION: View; Part 6; Page 18; Column 1; View Desk

LENGTH: 45 words

HEADLINE: AN EMOTIONAL ISSUE

BODY:
Thank you for the article by Jim Kinsella on fear (of AIDS) for gay men ("Fear Stalks Men of the Gay Community," May 8): An excellent piece touching on some emotional issues that many in San Francisco and elsewhere are having to face.

NORM WOODRUFF

San Francisco

Please see related thread for several credible media sources- Norm was Rush's gay mentor who himself died from AIDS:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2107449

[renie408]

1. Sorry, I don't get it....

I am not sure what it means. Why is it significant that Rush's mentor was gay? Do we think that Rush is gay, too? My first trainer, whom I truly respected and admired, was a lesbian. It didn't rub off. A lot of good training did, but not the homosexuality.

[Dr Fate]

2. Did your trainer "teach" you "how to dress?"

Rush's did. I'd like to know more about this and other details.

RUSH! By Michael Arkush
Library of Congress catalog number 93-90612
ISBN: 0-380-77539-5

"Norm taught Rush how to dress for success...

... and presented him to KFBK at a key moment -- upon the firing of Morton Downey... Woodruff died in the mid 1980's of AIDS. He was gay.


And for another thing- you are openly willing to admit your realationship- as opposed to Rush- who keeps this all a secret.

[renie408]

3. Rush keeps it a secret that he worked with Norm Woodruff?

And wasn't there a really popular show that has gay guys teaching straight guys how to dress? And how many straight business mentors do you think teach young men how to dress without having sex with them?

And isn't a persons sexual orientation, even fat obnoxious pigs like Rush, their business?

And isn't it hypocritical or at least icky to act like there is something wrong with Rush being gay?

And doesn't Rush Limbaugh give all of us plenty of ammo freely without anybody having to go digging for something that isn't really that big a deal? Who gives a shit who Rush Limbaugh is fucking? Except to feel sorry for them?

[renie408]

4. Oh, and YES, my trainer DID teach me how to dress.

And NO, I never had sex with her.

Except for maybe in some weirdo dreams my husband had.

[Dr Fate]

6. The difference is you dont keep that a secret.

Rush does.

I'll bet his fans would wonder why.

[renie408]

7. So it is true that Rush Limbaugh denies that he ever worked for

Norm Woodruff. Is that what you are saying?

Cause unless he denies working for the guy, you are stretching a few comments REALLY thin and implying that Rush is gay because he was friends with a gay man. Which, when you think about it in a certain light, is pretty much what homophobes do. They are afraid of being near or appearing to accept homosexuals because they are afraid that people will assume they are gay, too. Which is an asinine thing to do.

And since very few of his fans are here, why are you working so hard to make this happen HERE?

[Dr Fate]

11. Most people dont know Rush had a Gay mentor...

...and most people dont hold this fact up to another fact- that he has gone through three wives (beards?) without having children (Sexless marriage?)

And MANY Rush fans lurk here- Rush himself comes here- he mentions DU almost daily these days.

[renie408]

13. Maybe he is impotent? Hey, break that newsflash!!

[Dr Fate]

15. Or shooting blanks- or his 3 childless wives were beards.

Secrecy breeds speculation.

I dont feel I'm far off- but I appreciate your devil's advocacy.

[renie408]

16. Let me tell you, it pretty much sucks to find myself defending Rush...

But I just can't get excited about anybody else's sexual orientation and, honestly, it seems kind of low to go after him for that. Yeah, he has probably earned every low blow imaginable, but becoming like him does not seem to me to be the best way to beat him.

[Dr Fate]

18. I respect your position- really.

Think of it this way- Dr Fate does it so you dont have too.

I honestly think there is somthing to this.

At the minimum, I think more homophobe Rush listeners should know that "El Rush-bo" is either faking his gay-bashing or is gay bashing as a hypocrite.

Who knows, it might just get one or two people to think about it all.

[renie408]

22. Or he will just say that he 'saw the light' after he witnessed for himself

how his mentor's lifestyle ended his life. Think about it. That is just the kind of twist Rush would put on something like this.

[Dr Fate]

23. Not gonna work- he calls him "the late, great Norm Woodruff"...

as late as 2003- per the transcript I provided.

[rasputin1952]

41. I believe it all comes down to the hypocrisy...just as Limbaugh was/is

adamantly against say pot smokers, he turns out to be a junkie; but that is essentially glossed over as a 'personal problem'. Limbaugh is on record as a someone who believes that the gays, "have an agenda" that essentially is to bring down democracy and freedom. How he come to this rationalization is beyond me, but he is good at distorting things...:shrug:

It all comes down to the blatant hypocrisy that comes from the RW shills. Limbaugh has been linked to a gay liaison back in the '70's as he was allegedly arrested for attempting to procure a minor for sexual exploits as 'Jeff Christy'. I don't care what his sexual preferences are, but he should be upfront and honest before he demands the same from others. I don't expect him to walk that road, no money in being honest, and Limbaugh is all about money, he equates that to success in all aspects of life. Kind of sad really.

[Dr Fate]

42. It is confirmed that "Jeff Christy" was one of Rush's aliases.

http://www.reelradio.com/jr/index.html

[REP]

27. No Children Does Not Mean Gay

I don't know and don't care is Rimjob is gay or not, but plenty of heteros don't have children by choice - and I'm one of them.

Now, not having children and spouting anti-woman pro-natalist crapola does make him a hypocrite. In other news: water is wet.

[Dr Fate]

28. Not by itself- but it is a brick in the wall of evidence.

3 childless (sexless?) marriages. Being so secretive about Norm Woodruff.

It makes it more likely- its viable evidence.

And like you suggest- this is the guy who preaches about the sanctity of marriage and strong families and all that- lots of bizarre secrets & contradictions.

[REP]

29. Not Necessarily Doubting You - Just Standing Up For

Straight childfree people who have sex! I *hate* the idea of having anything in common with AssPimple Boy ... I hope he's childLESS because he's impotent or infertile.

[Dr Fate]

31. Rush has lots of secrets & contradictions on this on way or the other.

And I think a certain Mr. Norm Woodruff may hold the key.

[Vinnie From Indy]

19. And now me. Thanks alot!

n/t

[Dr Fate]

5. His fans care. That is who.

And Rush is a public figure who is publicaly against gay rights.

And yes- Rush never mentions that "the Late, Great, Norm Woodruff" was a gay man- he always leaves that out. Why?

[renie408]

9. Uhhh...because he doesn't say, "My straight friend Bob" either??

[Dr Fate]

10. No, it's because his fans are homophobes.

And they would be creeped out and suspicious if they knew "the Late, Great, Norm Woodruff" was Gay man who died from AIDS.

[renie408]

12. O-Kay

If they didn't care that he was a drug addict, are they going to care that he worked for a gay guy? Cause you are not selling me quite yet that he is gay himself. And if you can't sell it to somebody who HATES Limbaugh, I am thinking you are going to have a tough time getting his fans to buy it.

Don't you think that if you are going to creep out Limbaugh fans, you might want to venture farther than the Democratic Underground with this bombshell?

And while I am sure that your investigative skills are quite impressive, don't you think that if Rush were verifably gay somebody else before you probably would have figured it out and splashed all over...somewhere?

[Dr Fate]

17. You would be suprised.

We have seen many stories come to light over the years.

The media is mostly pro-Republican- they often cover for their own.

Drugs are one thing-but a relationship with a gay man, even a platonic one, makes Freeps antsy.

Combine this with the drugs and we possibly have what some refer to as an "alternative lifestyle"

[renie408]

20. But doesn't that smack of BEING one of them? To make this big a deal

over something that might well be relatively innocuous?

[Dr Fate]

24. I disagree, but I'm comfortable with that perception.

I dont feel like pointing out the hypocrisy of a gay-basher makes me like Rush or a Right Winger.

[QC]

8. Well, if Rush has a gay friend,

then he must surely be gay himself! :eyes:

[Dr Fate]

14. How do gay bashers have gay friends? How does that work?

I think it's strange that he pretends to be so anti-gay, yet he had a gay mentor.

Does that fact all by itself make him gay? No.

But look at the pattern of secrecy- he never mentions that his mentor was gay. In fact, since Woodruff has been an internet topic for a few years, he stopped mentioning him at all.

He kept his drug abuse secret as well.

He has had 3 failed marriages and no children.

These are all facts that his fans should be interested in.

[Name removed]

37. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Sparkly]

38. Oooookey dokey...

The Rich increased homosexuality. Leaving aside The Rich's creation of AIDS for the moment, I'll take you up on your offer to show the proof that The Rich "supported the idea of increasing homosexuality," and "were empowering them."

:popcorn:

[Dr Fate]

40. I believe it was the Masons.

They are always increasing & creating all kinzza stuff. ;)

[Kingofalldems]

21. Sorry but this is super duper old news

Way back when on the old Prodigy network (pre internet) there was a Rush Limbaugh board where pro and anti Rush people posted. A guy named Colford wrote a book about pigboy and this info was contained in his book, if I remember correctly. I'm not sure but I think it was in his book. Anyhow the dittoheads couldn't have cared less about it, they just used it to say Rush was broad minded. Like Bush, there is nothing Rush could do that would make the dits stop worshipping him. BTW, Bartcop used to destroy the dits there daily.

[Dr Fate]

25. It is new to plenty of people.

And the devil is in the details- which Rush keeps hidden.

Who knows- maybe a little extra interent buzz will compel others to finally decide to come forward- ya never know.

And ditto heads DO care about it. I've gotten the goat of plenty of right-wing friends of mine with this.

And if Rush is broad minded- wouldn't that mean he would have to like "broads"? :)

[Catrina]

30. It was new to me

so I appreciate the information. Too bad that Rush doesn't talk about what killed his mentor. He could use his influence (although his audience has dropped significantly, by about 45% last I heard) to further the cause of curing aids so that others might not die. But then, most of his ditto heads want aids to kill as many gays as possible, so I guess Rush must feel the same way. I would like to know if he or does he not agree with his freeper audience?

I think since he has made himself a public figure (or at least his gay mentor did) these are all valid questions. The reason why Rush got away with getting rich from telling lies, is because of the attitude that 'we should not sink as low as they have'. Well, that got us Bush and a lot of dead people in Iraq. You can't fight someone who's in the gutter sometimes unless you get in the gutter with them. Maybe it's time to do that. The consequeces of not doing it have been tragic.

Thank you for the information, I have a few freeper friends. I will give it to them and ask them what they think. Knowing them, I think they will be enraged (they're always in a rage about something) and deny it and call me a 'lieberal'. That must a word they learned for Rush, since they all use it. Wish they'd try coming up with some original thoughs. They really do need him to tell them what to think.

I read a report a few years ago by a guy who claimed to be Rush's lover. Can't remember his name. He said Rush was 'a great guy, great sense of humor' ~ don't know if it was true or not, at the time, I didn't believe it, or care, other than the hypocricy thing.

I think it's time to expose the hypocrisy of the propagandists. Every chance we get ~ his audience has shrunk, I'd like to shrink it a little more, and the rest of them.

[Dr Fate]

32. He did the opposite- he did song parodies about AIDS victims:

Limbaugh's satire is very sharp, though it has been criticized for what his detractors claim to be a juvenile and mean-spirited nature often bordering on hate speech. For example, news about the homeless is often preceded with the Clarence "Frogman" Henry song "Ain't Got No Home". The song "I Know I'll Never Love This Way Again" preceded reports about people dying of AIDS.

http://www.answers.com/topic/rush-limbaugh

Class act huh?- his mentor dies of AIDS and here he is doing song parodies.

[Catrina]

33. Disgusting and all the more

reason to raise the issue that it was a gay man who launched his career and to make it known to the ditto heads who listen to his 'songs' and poetry that he's nothing but a hypocrite and that he may be everything he tells them to despise, himself.

Eg, he thrashed Clinton for not being in the military, and no one ever challenged him back then on his own lack of military experience.

So, he's a draft-dodger, and may be gay, and a drug addict, and just about everything he gets them all riled up about every day. As I said before, he's already lost half of his audience, so these things matter. Dismissing them is what the left did for so long. And the rightwing propaganda machine thrived. Time for a change, call them on every single thing. And yell it out loud when you catch them being a hypocrite. That's what should have been done a long time ago, imo.

[Dr Fate]

35. I agree- gay or not, the story is of interest.

n/t

[Dr Fate]

26. nah

nah

[Dr Fate]

34. Kick

n/t

[are_we_united_yet]

36. Rush has a gay friend. I don't see the issue here.

Other than Rush is a flaming, obnoxious, drug crazed dickhead.

[Dr Fate]

39. The issue is how he presents Gay rights topics on his show.

I think the fact that his career got it's jump start from a Gay mentor who died of AIDS is quite interesting in light of the way he disparages other gay people and people with AIDS on his show.

I'd like to find out more about this Norm Woodruff character- like what he got in return from "Jeff Christie" AKA Rush for his mentorship.

Did a wheeler & dealer like Mr. Woodruff "teach Rush how to dress" out of the goodness of his heart- or was there an exchange of some kind?

Questions, questions...

[dsc]

43. I had promised myself I wouldn't answer this nonsense again

but I just can't help myself. I was at Pride NC yesterday and for the first time in quite some time, I was able to be totally open about who I am. Why is that? Because I am not out at work. Why am I not out at work? Because way, way too many people believe that a gay teacher/mentor begats gay students. It is as simple as that. The very myth you are exploiting to try to harm Rush is the myth which makes me stay closeted at work. I can't put it more bluntly than that.

I intend to change this dynamic for myself in a year or two by applying for jobs in more open districts, getting one, and then giving my current district a choice of accepting a teacher who is at least open with the faculty or finding a new math teacher. I am likely to be told to leave. Thanks to the myth you are exploiting.

Rush is a horrid man, but burning down my village isn't going to kill him.

[Dr Fate]

44. Letting Rush keep this a secret helps nothing.

I respect your take on this, but I disagree.

If anyone is to blame for the conclusions these facts invite people to draw, it's Rush for having a record of secrecy- including not being 100% honest about his mentor, coupled with his 3 childless marriages.

Rush calls Norm "The Late, Great, Norm Woodruff" out of one side of his mouth, while doing song parodies of other AIDS victims on his show.

Did Mr. Woodruff have a "Gay agenda" as Rush claims Gay folks do? If so, what was it? I'd like to know.

I don't see this as any different from pointing out that Strom Thurman had a African American mistresses & children. It spot-lights his hypocrisy.

Rush has the power to clear up the matter of whether his having a gay mentor had anything to do with his own orientation. He could tell the WHOLE story about Norm Woodruff and let his fans decide.

The sexual orientation and cause of death of his career mentor is one more secret out of many that he has hid from the public.

[dsc]

45. It is hard to call it a secret

Presumedly this man was openly gay so by naming his name he is telling anyone who cares to know that he knew a gay guy. As to the hypocrisy of having a gay mentor, it seems his black screener is at least as big a hypocrisy.

I fail to see any good coming from this barring some real proof the man is gay (such as a boyfriend ala McGreevey)

[Dr Fate]

46. It's easy to call it that. Most people have never heard of any of this.

And by secret I mean that Rush never talks about the orientation of Woodruff or how he passed.

Since this started to be an internet topic 2 years ago or so, Rush stopped mentioning Woodruff at all.

Who knows- if the internet buzz keeps this going, someone else may come forward, or the National Enquirer may look into this- or both.

[Dr Fate]

47. Kick

n/t