Transgender Firefighter Marches as Grand Marshall in NYC Pride Parade
Brooke Guinan’s family has a history of careers in fire fighting. Guinan did not think she could continue the tradition in the male-dominated fire department because she identifies as a transgender woman. But Guinan’s love of public service ultimately drove her to continue her family legacy in the fire department.
Guinan began identifying as a transgender woman in 2011, three years into her firefighting career at FDNY. She first came out as a gay man at a young age, but began to question her gender identity in college.
Since 2015, Guinan has served the FDNY as its LGBTQ outreach coordinator. In this role she has directed and produced training tools and services to better equip the FDNY to understand and work with the LGBTQ community. “The firehouse can be fun, but I am so enamored with my community and I am very pleased and grateful to do a different kind of lifesaving work in the fire department,” Guinan said. James Fallarino, spokesperson for NYC Pride, said Guinan appears to be the first openly transgender member of the FDNY.
This year the NYC Pride Parade invited Guinan as a Grand Marshall. “It is an amazing honor to be the Grand Marshal of this year’s Pride parade,” she said. “I have always found inspiration in other people’s voices and it is an honor to be given an opportunity for my voice to be heard.”
The NYC Pride March is the largest pride parade in the United States and is meant to celebrate the LGBTQ community and bring awareness to issues the community faces.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/25/us/firefighter-transgender-woman-pride/index.html
Tags: Brooke Guinan, Firefighter, Grand Marshall, New York City Fire Department, NYC, NYC Pride, Pride Parade, Transgender