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When Michele Kaemmerer appeared at the fire station in the 1990s, she would sometimes meet firefighters who didn’t want to work with her and ask them to get sick.
The Los Angeles Firefighter assisted Kaemmerer, the city’s first transgender fire chief by denying the request.
If a few people hurt her, she didn’t show it.
“She really rolled things off pretty well. Some things were really hurt, but she always had a good attitude,” said Janis Walworth, Kemmerer’s widow. “She never took it out to anyone else. She was never bitter or angry.”
Kaemmerer was an early leader in transgender and women’s rights in the sector, unknown for its warm welcome to women and minorities, and passed away on May 21st at the age of 80 of heart disease at her home in Bellingham, Washington. She was survived by Walworth and two children.
Michele Kaemmerer wears a shirt to show pride in her trans and lesbian identity in undated photos.
(Commentary of Janice Walworth)
A Buddhist, Democrat, feminist and lesbian transgender woman, Kemmer has broken the stereotypes of what a firefighter is. She joined LAFD long before the transition to 1991 in 1969 and became captain ten years later.
“In a fire, in a building on a fire, in a brush fire…it’s adrenaline production, and that’s great,” Kaemmerer said on an episode of the 1999 PBS show “In the Life,” which documented the problems facing the LGBTQ+ community. This episode featured Kaemmerer when he was captain of Marina Del Rey’s Engine 63.
“I feel that the men and women here are very emphasising that there are gay and lesbian captains,” said Savitri Carlson, a paramedic at the fire department, in the episode. “You have to notice, this is not just a job. We live, sleep, shower, eat together, change together.”
However, Kaemmerer brushed the snub.
“They are forced to live with lesbians,” she said. “And it doesn’t rub off.”
People close to her said Kaemmerer, who retired in 2003, was an optimist who saw the best in people, so she was able to deal with scrutiny and Snaid’s remarks.
“She wasn’t really into that kind of thing,” said Brenda Berkman, one of the first women at the New York City Fire Department.
The suspicions sometimes came from other women. When Kaemmerer joined the Fire in the Fire service, some members didn’t want to go with her on a few days of bike trips.
Kaemmerer claimed he was “not a real woman” and that he was wondering which bathroom she would use and where she would sleep.
“She revealed she had her tent,” recalls Berkman. “I told the group, “We can’t discriminate against Michele. After all, we didn’t fight to be treated equally and treated in the fire service. She has to be allowed to come.”
Kaemmerer took part in the trip.
Michele Kaemmerer fights the fire of the brush with dateless photos.
(Commentary of Janice Walworth)
[1945年に生まれたKaemmererは、幼い頃から彼女が女性であると特定したことを知っていましたが、beatられたり恥をかかされたりすることを恐れて隠しました。彼女はひそかに吸って、伝統的な生活の道をたどり、高校の恋人（後に離婚した）と結婚し、海軍に加わり、2人の子供を産みました。「私は彼女をとても誇りに思っていました [when she came out]said Kemmermeller’s daughter, who asked not to be identified for privacy reasons.
When she came out as a transgender person, Kaemmerer was the captain of a small team at LAFD, with three men working for her.
“It was very difficult for them,” she said in an interview with PBS.
Kaemmerer focused on her work. During LA Riots in 1992, her fire truck was shot when responding to a fire, Berkman said.
In an interview with PBS, Kaemmerer said that the firefighters who knew her before she moved still refused to work with her.
Some of the women who shared the locker room were worried that she might make sexual advances. Most firefighters sleep in the same room, but Kemmerer sometimes doesn’t, so others will feel comfortable.
“Sometimes I get bedding, put it on the floor in my training or weight room and sleep there,” she said in an interview with PBS.
The bell rang as she was talking to PBS about her experience as a transgender woman at the fire station.
“It’s going to have an alarm coming in,” she said.
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