How accepting are the EMS/FD community?

[Caspar]

Are EMS and FD personnel generally accepting of gay co-workers? I would like to think that as long as I do my job well, it shouldn't matter, but I was wondering how true this is and if anyone had any experiences with this?
I am really passionate about EMS and will always give it my all on every call and I hope that this little thing will not affect my dream.

 

[DesertMedic66]

It will vary greatly by your state, county, and agency.

If you are in a state or county that is not very tolerant of the LGBT community then there may be some issue. I work in an area that is heavily influenced and has many LGBT events, along with communities, clubs, and bars that caters to the LGBT population. We have several lesbian employees (I'm not sure about gay employees).

TL;DR It will depend on your area. If you're in a very conservative area then you may have issues.

 

[Ewok Jerky]

Just like anywhere else, unfortunately, some local cultures are not as accepting as others. I would expect the firehouse or EMS agency to be a reflection of your community's attitude as a whole.

 

[medicaltransient]

Unfortunately I have seen a lot of bigotry around the dinner table. Personally I could give 2 ****s what you sexual orientation is. Establishing strong relationships and cohesion within your department is very important, just follow the same rules as everyone else and you should be ok.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Just like any other job. Some people are accepting, others aren't.

There is a lot of time for idle chatter in the firehouse and there's a lot of joking/teasing that can very quickly cross the line into inappropriate workplace behavior.

Times have changed and what may have been deemed "just a joke" a decade ago is now actionable.

 

[Caspar]

It will vary greatly by your state, county, and agency.

If you are in a state or county that is not very tolerant of the LGBT community then there may be some issue. I work in an area that is heavily influenced and has many LGBT events, along with communities, clubs, and bars that caters to the LGBT population. We have several lesbian employees (I'm not sure about gay employees).

TL;DR It will depend on your area. If you're in a very conservative area then you may have issues.

I am from the Northeast, so I suppose it is more open minded than other places.

Do you guys suggest just keeping this a secret and just going along with the other guys? Is this possible? I honestly just want to do my work and bond with everyone else without this being a problem.

 

[DesertMedic66]

I am from the Northeast, so I suppose it is more open minded than other places.

Do you guys suggest just keeping this a secret and just going along with the other guys? Is this possible? I honestly just want to do my work and bond with everyone else without this being a problem.

Since I am personally not in your situation I can not even make a suggestion on what to do.

 

[Tigger]

Sadly I think as a whole we are not as tolerant of a group as we could be. Or maybe I'm just biased from spending four years at a college where acceptance doesn't begin to come close to describing the campus community. It just was never, ever an issue. Meanwhile I now deal with some occasionally openly homophobic coworkers. It's terrible, and I have so much respect for them as providers but at the same time it's rather bothersome that someone can still hold those beliefs about their own coworkers.

I guess working in a rural area has it's downfalls.

 

[STXmedic]

Just from what I've seen down here (south Texas), the EMS community is generally pretty accepting, where the FD is very much less so. The FD seems to be more "Don't ask, don't tell."

 

[chaz90]

Delaware seems to be far more tolerant than Colorado was. Our department is quite careful to be notably respectful of all and we have several gay employees. As others have said, this is likely very area dependent.

As far as being honest with your co-workers, that would have to be a personal decision. I can't imagine what it would be like to conceal one's true identity, and I would guess it would eventually come out anyway, particularly if it is a small community.

Best of luck in any case.

 

[RocketMedic]

We don't care about it in South Texas, as long as you've sacrificed an infant to Ted Cruz and you don't like the Giants.

 

[terrible one]

I work at a fire station that houses a private ambulance and one individual on the ambulance is openly gay. He is very well respected and liked by all the ambulance employees as well as the fire dept. However, you better have thick skin as there are still those that make jokes with him around in regards to his sexual orientation. He will join in and I'm sure lets a lot roll off his back, but I've seen occasions that I believe personally come very close to crossing that line. That is kind of the atmosphere a fire station lives in unfortunately. On the EMS side I think it's generally a little more tolerant.

 

[Ewok Jerky]

As for the joking, I think FD/EMS in general takes humor to the extreme with just about any angle we can get. If we are ribbing you about being gay its because you aren't fat, old, young, divorced, married, have red hair, less than 5 foot 6, wear glasses, hike your pants up to your nipples, sweat profusely and must have the AC on even when its 40 degrees outside, have a hot sister, date a dispatcher, have an ex-spouse who is a dispatcher, where tons of makeup to impress FFs, leave your dip spitoon in the door for the next crew to find, eat chick pees straight out the can with a spoon....

 

[Carlos Danger]

I think FD/EMS in general takes humor to the extreme with just about any angle we can get.

This is absolutely true. A lot of picking and joking goes on and very little is out of bounds, but it's rarely personal or done with malice.

Following that, the only challenge I've personally seen with openly gay folks in EMS was feelings among the (straight) guys who'd been around a while that they could no longer have the very casual locker-foom atmosphere that they used to. They felt like that had to become real politically correct and didn't like it at all. It did cause some issues, but they had much less to do with accepting someone else's different sexuality than it did feeling like they had to change their culture to conform to a new guy's very different sensibilities.

 

[COmedic17]

I work in Colorado and where I work is extremely tolerant. There's several people on fire and EMS that are homosexual.

I also work in an area that's very very LGBT friendly and very very liberal all around. Very environmently friendly and very accepting of other people. Everyone loves everyone- unless you drive a diesel. They don't like diesels.

 

[redundantbassist]

Gay emt here, it really depends on your area. I live in a place where gays are accepted and have had few issues but, as others have said, it really depends on the people and not EMS/FF as a whole.

 

[Shishkabob]

EMS, just like police, fire, and the military, tend to have more ''conservative'' minded people; mind you, don't confuse conservative for homophobic like is often done.

Having said that, I'd wager 5-10% of my coworkers at any of my EMS agencies have been gay, and I'm in "OMG HOMOPHOBIC GUN HUMPING TEXAS!", and while I'm straight so I have no first hand experience, I haven't noticed or heard any issues.

 

[Brandon O]

No problem in the places I've been. But I'll add the caveat that the gay dudes tended to be very "cool" (charismatic, outgoing, well-liked folks), and I wonder if that was necessary -- in other words, if there was a higher standard for acceptance. I dunno.

Also it may be of note that I can't recall a single lesbian coworker who was out.

In any case, as mentioned, probably the one way to ensure it's a problem is to be touchy about it. Either lay it out there or keep it to yourself, if you get my drift, no halfways.

 

[Brandon O]

By the way, I have seen much more inappropriate questionable **** from creepy coworkers directed at young female partners than at any male, regardless of their preferences.

 

[NYBLS]

I think its less of an issue if you go in and do your job well earning respect. People appear to be more accepting of people if they are good at what they do.