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Continued from the cover
I
n the same issue, there’s also the Letter from
the Editrix'and an interview with “Sharon
Mitchell: Hard Core Activist, Damn Good
Pom Star.” Peppered throughout the publica
tion are advertisements for the Multnomah
County Health Department’s ST D and HIV
Clinic, as well as self-defense classes for women.
When LeFey’s not working to pay the rent,
you’ll likely find her assisting with Danzme, or at
the Sexual Minorities Roundtable telling police
honchos about the harassment she and other
sex workers encounter— sometimes from the
men in blue— or she’s promoting needle
exchange on the strips where street walkers are
found.
“That’s where I’m off to tonight,” she says.
“You never hear people talk about hepatitis C,
but it’s a real problem. We’re trying to make
things safer.”
Indeed. LeFey is part of a group called Scar
let Letter, which recently presented the Port
land City Council with a “Sex Workers’ Wish
List for a Safe Environment.”
The list’s creation was spurred by the city’s
campaign to regulate lingerie modeling and per
sonal-escort businesses in an effort to crack
down on the illegal components of the sex
industry, notably prostitution.
On Jan. 26, the City Council unanimously
approved a new version of a sex worker licens
ing measure initially adopted in September.
Among other points, the ordinance requires
those in the escort and lingerie-modeling busi
nesses to submit to criminal background checks
and obtain licenses and identification cards. It
takes effect in a few weeks, and many sex work
ers fear for their futures.
Says LeFey: “There are probably a thousand
sex workers in the city of Portland, and only
about 20 people working on this campaign. This
ordinance would not have passed if a thousand
had stood up and said, ‘No we’re not going to let
it.’ ”
L
eFey is a graduate of St. Mary’s Academy, a
private Catholic school in Southwest Port
land.
“Not only am I queer, I’m a sex worker, too!”
she laughs. “If the nuns knew, they’d say, ‘Can
we deny she was ever a student here? Bum those
records!’ ”
Her parents have been married 30 years, and
she describes them with tenderness: “My mom is
my best friend, and my dad is my favorite man
alive.”
According to LeFey, mom is a high-energy
accountant who runs her own firm, and dad is a
mellow builder content to tinker in his garage.
A few months ago, mother and daughter hiked
the Grand Canyon, while dad was happy to skip
the arduous activity and instead nourish the
women with cookies and water.
She came out as queer at 16, and soon met
her first girlfriend.
“The butchest dyke I ever met in my life!”
she says enthusiastically.
Not long after the two started dating, LeFey
says her girlfriend sat her down and said, “I can’t
live a lie. I can’t hide who I am.”
According to LeFey, the person she had
called her girlfriend was someone who identified
as male and planned to pursue a transition.
“So I started dealing with trans issues. Until
then, I had never heard of the word transsexual,”
LeFey explains. “I’m like, ‘OK, my girlfriend is
now my boyfriend.’ ”
Though no longer together as a couple, they
remain close.
A month after LeFey graduated from high
school, she dipped her toe into the sea of the sex
industry. College wasn’t for her, though she
attempted it at Portland State University.
A friend, noting LeFey’s penchant for exhi
bitionism, suggested she try stripping.
“I said, ‘Those women are 6-2, they have
long flowing blond hair and legs that come up to
their belly buttons. What are you thinking!’ ”
she recalls.
The friend then asked LeFey if she had ever
actually seen a stripper.
“I said, ‘Well, no,’ and he said, ‘Trust me,
there are only 12 strippers in the whole world
like that,’ ” she explains. “So I went down to a
strip club and it was great. All the women had
tattoos and piercings.”
At 18, LeFey underwent her first audition,
which was at a small club in Old Town.
“The most wonderful experience in my life
was when I stripped for the very first time. I
mean, I was home," she bubbles.
That sensation permeated every cell in her
body— a feeling not dissimilar to a gay man hon
ing in on his sexual orientation, or a trans per
son securing her gender identity.
Save for her dancing at the Egyptian, LeFey’s
client base has always been men.
It may seem odd to some that a queer girl
could offer her sexuality to guys. But for LeFey,
it’s about freedom of expression, freedom of
choice and being natural.
“I enjoy sexuality. I enjoy sex. I prefer sex
with female-bodied people. I prefer love with
people who were raised as women, whether they
are now or not. I like the softness and the under
standing and the emotions. All of that,” she
says.
hough LeFey says her parents know their
daughter is an advocate for sex workers’
rights and safety, they are unaware that she cur
rently earns her living as a sex worker.
“When I first starting stripping, my mother
told me to call her when I got back from work so
she would know I was alright,” says LeFey. “I
called her every morning at 6 o ’clock for a good
six months— and that wasn’t easy because I got
home at 3:30.”
She quit the industry soon after, took an
office job, hated it, and within a few weeks was
back to stripping. Her parents, however, were
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Morgan LeFey doesn't let the antics at City Hall get her down
“I felt so right to me,” explains LeFey, who
has always been a physical person.
She was an excellent skier before injuring
her knee onstage. Another dancer had slathered
baby oil on the pole that LeFey unwittingly
went to use, sending her crashing to the floor.
“I’m a weird mix. I’m fine talking one on
one, but if it’s two on one, I don’t say a word,”
she says. “When I went to a bigger club, I had to
talk to men to make money. If I did sit down
with them, I’d ask them about their wife and
kids— and take it from me, that is not want you
want to do!”
She adds, “I don’t make small talk well, but I
can do anything physical.”
And she’s done plenty, including sexy num
bers at the Egyptian Room, a largely lesbian bar
in Southeast Portland.
“There is such a huge difference between
dancing for men and dancing for women,”
LeFey explains. “For women you really have to
put on a show. Like you are not there because
you have tits and an ass, because everyone there
has tits and an ass.”
She’s done lingerie-modeling— meaning she
dances while the guy jerks off. She’s been in a
racy flick.
It was about big butt girls,” she informs me.
She’s done other things, too. Street walking,
however, is out.
“No. It’s terrifying,” she says. “It’s not for
me.”
never informed of that decision, and think
LeFey earns her due by working with artists and
doing other odds-and-ends jobs.
LeFey hopes someday to develop a documen
tary about queer sex workers.
“I’d like to locate women-focused prostitutes,
but it’s really hard to do,” she says.
The reason? LeFey in part surmises that if
male clients find out the woman is a lesbian,
they’ll assume she’s not into them or enjoying
herself.
“It could be bad for business,” she says.
As for the impact the city’s new ordinance
will have on the sex business, LeFey says, “I love
Portland but I might have to leave.”
oward the end of our interview, I ask to
snap a few photos.
“You bet. Do you want me to put something
more sexy on?” LeFey inquires.
Throughout our chat, she has looked like a
typical college kid. She wears faded jeans, an
unremarkable blue long-sleeved shirt and boots.
Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail.
“Whatever works for you,” I answer.
She hops off the bed and zips to the bath
room. In about 60 seconds she’s in a slinky num
ber, her hair down. She goes to that purple
loungey thing.
“This feels good,” she says as she stretches
out.
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