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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 16, 2000)
jim 16.2000- J « t — t 35 Continued from Page 33 A fter living here and working for LCP, she met a man and had a baby boy (named Eli Lapret). In the fall of 1995, she discovered feminism in the w om ens studies department at Portland State University, something which changed her life. She attended graduate school at the University of Iowa for a short while, then moved back to Portland, where she cur rently resides. She says her first pride parade was the M arch on W ashington, D.C., in 1993. “Pride to me is ‘woo-hoo!’ I remember hanging out in Dupont Circle with a bunch of half-naked people,” she says. “It felt like such a sense of freedom and safety. I thought, ‘Was this how it felt when M artin Luther King was J oe I ngles I oe Ingles just wants to live his grandparents’ I lives. He wants to be a respected man who J cares for his neighborhood and his commu nity. W hen he is asked what pride means to him, he responds: “I’ve never participated in any of that stuff that goes on downtown, because I find it unnecessary.” W hen Ingles speaks of working in the com munity, he means his neighborhood, specifical ly the Kenton area of North Portland. Ingles has just been elected to his second term as chairman of the Kenton Neighborhood Associ ation. Kenton is a predominantly blue-collar neighborhood with a high ratio of older citi zens. Ingles admits that he was apprehensive at first about revealing his sexual orientation to his constituents, but to his surprise and relief it was simply a nonissue. He was accepted from day one. In his capacity as neighborhood chairman, Ingles is passionate about the growth, needs and maintenance of his community. This is a man who understands light-rail development and urban renewal. This is a man who has actually read the Exposition Center master plan and is actively working to ensure that the plans put in place for Kenton are the best plans and the right plans. Ingles and his partner of eight and a half years live in a trim and tidy home with their family of choice: three dogs, two cats and a rau cous parrot who challenges all visitors to stick their fingers in his cage. (I suspect there might be a high incidence of persons with missing fin ger parts living in the Kenton neighborhood.) O ne of Ingles’ personal visions for his neighborhood involves his opening an antique shop on the main drag, just a block or so from his home. Be a good neighbor, be a good person. Retire with a motor home. Joe Ingles is living his grandparents’ lives. — MD Suddenly, he says, everyone was wearing towels in the shower room. Year later he took his partner, Ken, to his 20th high school reunion in Idaho. C oinciden tally, the Aryan N ation was having their "pow wow” the same weekend, Renfro says. His graduating class knew he was headed to the party with a man, since he put Ken’s name on the registration forms. “Everyone wanted to know what he looked like,” Renfro chuckles. The couple decided to retain the rainbows and triangles adorning their car’s bumper despite the potential danger. The Aryan Nation fellows did inevitably find the couple driving through town and verbally harassed them. “It was kind of scary,” he says. F Stopping to focus his thoughts, Ingles con tinues: "1 don’t like drawing attention to myself. I like working in the community, the greater community, but I don’t want or need to parade my sexuality.” W esîoyer H eights C L I N i Offering general internal medicine and excelling in sexual health care ( Kenneth. MohoLt - Siebert — bu ildin g design ----------------- Z 0 ¿ 0 se S A L M O * • P P X Z32.-5<¡>6<¡> Renfro was a founding board member of Salem’s Coalition to End Bigotry and recently was appointed to Salem’s Human Rights and Relations Advisory Commission. He wants to stay involved in his com m uni ty and doesn’t seem to want anything in his life to be very different. “I bought a home. I have a lover, a job, a dog and a car,” Renfro says. W hat more could he possibly want? O n second thought, Renfro does want to change at least one thing about his life, and he plans to keep plugging away at it. “I want to help the people here become more comfortable with gay folks,” he says. “And help make this a better place to live.” —JK M ‘ e at (11 Cool S tu ff Antiques & Treasures Serving the com m unity for / 7 yearo 2330 NW Flanders Suite 207 226-6678 Ihr Rail fairs a il nays if life il mr prend 1 annnilt —Cary Renfro » m Lika a aaurdtn. studie? . • want a kitchen where ctokfruj « a ja y ■ m m eet a haute w i th a soul ? ra y o esig ri That Fit* --------- The Class of 2000 Ji\l Ihl sin ris "I want to help the people here become more comfortable with gay folks. And help make this a better place to live. * C ary R enfro or Salem resident Cary Renfro, 40, pride weekend in Portland isn’t a big deal. He’d like to go, but he can’t because he inevitably has to work every year. “Retail,” he explains. W hile Renfro does always make it to Salem’s pride festivities (he chaired the event for two years in the ’90s), his brand of gay pride is evident in his everyday life. Renfro is out in the community and wants to make things better for what has become his home of 10 years. And he’s never been afraid to go out and stir things up a bit. It started in college when Renfro’s partner, 26 years his senior, moved in with him. The two men shared Renfro’s college dormitory room. Now that takes guts! “1 was pretty obnoxious about being out,” Renfro recalls. PRIDE 7372 SW Capitol Highway Portland, OK 97219 • 503-246-6267 We are loca ted in Multnomah Village near The bridge. Call fo r directions.
