Edina residents Paul Felipe, a salon manager at Sloane’s Beauty Bar at 44th and France, and Blaine Caton, a sonographer for Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital, live on Lake Edina and consider their neighborhood to be very diverse and inviting. They are pet owners who often walk their old English sheepdog Harlow and French bulldogs Zeke and Ezra.
Parents of grown children Arabella and Tate, Felipe recalls early fatherhood, “We certainly were not the ‘norm,’ two men and a baby, a gay couple, pioneers you might say—but otherwise parents who do what many parents do, we moved to the ‘burbs,’ hoping to gain quality of life along with diversity, not only for ourselves, but more importantly, for our children. We landed in Edina and are grateful to call it home.”
He adds, “I know this seems so elementary, but when you’re a same sex couple, you are conditioned to expect the unexpected.” What they found was a very accepting community. “So, to all of the ‘baseball families’ that turned into ‘football families,’ we can’t thank you enough for making us feel welcomed,” says Felipe. “I can’t stress enough how that welcoming and overall acceptance continues to grow! For that reason, we are ‘Edina Proud.’ We love our community because of neighbors who feel free to display yard signs in support of social justice overall. I even think I’ve seen the city of Edina light up a part of France Ave. with rainbow lights during Pride weekend. Thank you, Edina for your support!”
