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
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Offering general internal
medicine and excelling
in sexual health care
(
Kenneth. MohoLt - Siebert —
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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
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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.