First Openly Gay Firefighter. Brave and A Life of Service

At CRT, we stand for diversity in our services—when you’re recovering from a fire or in the middle of escaping one, as we have pointed out, you don’t care if your rescuers are black, Hispanic, or from Mars – you need help and you need it fast.

To that end, we’ve focused on black firefighters recently.

This post is in honor  of  Gay Pride Month, which has itself evolved: The official name was changed in 2009, when President Barack Obama declared June “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month” to be more inclusive.

We think we’ve found the perfect candidate to represent this from our fire and rescue and service perspective: Kevin Mallinson. From his beginnings, Kevin Mallinson knew two things: He was gay, and he was born to serve others. This culminated in being the first openly gay firefighter in the United States. This was difficult road to follow.

One of the most rewarding parts of working in a public safety profession is the camaraderie available among colleagues and co-workers. Law enforcement, the fire service, emergency medicine, and first responders are all professions that face life-and-death situations on a daily basis. There is a strong bond that develops quickly through experiencing these events together. If you are a professional in one of these vocations who also happens to be gay, it can be difficult to connect with colleagues especially if you are closeted or work in an atmosphere surrounded by homophobia, but Kevin wasn’t having any of that!

His story highlights the importance of upholding personal values and having a sense of humor when facing adversity. And adversity there was: Kevin was up against the macho, ruff n’ tough persona that was the common way of firefighters throughout the land. Against a backdrop of the emerging AIDS epidemic, Kevin stood against conflict, and showed resilience, and eventually triumphed over naysayers, bullies, and those who meant actual physical harm. Along the way, he won over some well-meaning freighters and opened some eyes.

His story should be a book, and in fact it is: Alarm in the Firehouse. In it he details his struggles, which were many, including his first day greeting of being called “A goddam faggot,” being put on the worst patrols, and dealing with fellow firemen who truly did not have his back. He prevailed over this with obvious skills, a sense of humor and the eventual recognition of a different fire chief who requested him to be on his team.

Can you imagine running into a burning building with little or no support? Or had fire hoses trained on you as you’re on the top of a fire ladder? Kevin can; he has lived it. In fact, though his skills, strength, and sense of humor, he has sailed through.

His sense o f humor shines throughout his book. He writes: “I had always heard that ‘the truth will set you free, well, it seems that it might slap you across the face first. Then, it will set you free!”

At another more sensitive point he wonders, “could adult men devolve into acting like hostile adolescents? [And] why was I such a threat to these guys?”. Kevin served four years in the fie service, and then moved on to more service, working in Africa to stem the AIDS epidemic through education and hands on service.

He welcomes women, blacks, LGBT and other minorities to the fire house. Kevin retired, but his work is not done, his amazing service is note done: he serves as a public speaker and educator.  He seems happy, he lives near a beach and I heard birds chirping merrily in his backyard as we spoke.

At CRT, we welcome groundbreakers like Kevin, who deserve our support and praise for their pioneering efforts to keep us all safe.

Kudos to Kevin and those who follow his path!