New York's Bravest is Trans FDNY Firefighter Brooke Guinan
"The world doesn't have language to actively allow me to identify myself."
Leaning over the kitchen countertop in her two-bedroom apartment in Queens, Brooke Guinan tries to explain, via four horizontal lines she has plotted on a piece of paper, how the notion of gender is far more complex than the two extremes of "male" and "female." The lines represent four continuums: biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.
"I don't have a sexuality!" Guinan exclaims. "How does the world define a woman who was born malewho likes men? What is the sexuality for that? You could say I was gay, but I don't identify as male.Trans is my gender identity. 'Transgender' is about my gender; it has nothing to do with my sexuality.
"Our society doesn't have language to define that!"
Guinan (pronounced GUY-ninn) tends to get worked up on the topic of gender. "I hope I don't sound angry," she says. "It's just something I'm passionate about."
Not surprising, given that she is New York City's first and only transgender firefighter. The FDNY employs more than 10,400, only 44 of whom are women, and Guinan is the only member who has served the department as both a man and a woman. Since September, when a poster of her wearing a tight T-shirt reading "So Trans So What" went viral as part of an awareness campaign for the LGBTQ-advocacy group V.O.I.C.E. (the Vocal Organization for International Courage and Equality), Guinan has seen her profile rise as a role model for others who battle gender stereotypes in male-dominated professions.
Guinan does have something in common with many in the FDNY: The department runs in her family. In fact, she's third-generation. Her father, George William Guinan V, is an FDNY lieutenant; her grandfather George IV retired as a captain. Growing up, she heard stories about the escapades of her forebears — both of whom are heterosexual and, as she puts it, masculine and athletic. "There's such an attitude in society that firefighting is for straight, masculine men," Guinan says.
(Read the rest on the Village Voice)
