“It’s just something I’m passionate about.” Guinan (pronounced GUY-ninn) tends to get worked up on the topic of gender. 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. 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. That said, unlike many women who aspire to join the FDNY, she had no trouble meeting the job’s physical requirements. Standing six feet tall, Guinan weighs 240 pounds and doesn’t lack for strength. When my mother needs furniture moved, she calls me.” My body has a lot of natural strength to it,” she says. When it comes to stamina, though, Guinan says a lot of women in the department would best her. You have to know what you have and know what you have to work for.” “You don’t have to be six feet tall and built like a linebacker to do this job,” she says, arms folded across her chest. On this particular evening, she’s wearing a black sweater, black top, and tight blue jeans. A silver necklace with a dolphin pendant hangs around her neck, a gift from her boyfriend. Guinan doesn’t remember a time when she didn’t feel mostly different from everyone around her. Now she talks about not wanting to “let down” other transgender men and women who see her as an inspiration for bucking convention and stereotype to enter a profession where she is looked upon as an outsider.Īlthough she has grown accustomed to feeling separate from the norm, she admits it took years of burning under society’s intolerant glare for her to emerge stronger, certain of who she is and her place in the world. Village Voice conversion from Atex to QuarkĬhange comes slowly at the Village Voice.“I couldn’t get the voices out of my head of people telling me I’ll never be a woman, I don’t look like a woman, I don’t sound like a woman, and it’s never going to happen,” Guinan says. “The weekly newspaper of New York,” as it bills itself, is now in its 40th year as the paper of record of the liberal left. Though its reputation was built on New York City and national political coverage and extensive arts reviews, the Voice also runs a gossip column, a TV/computers section that first called itself Wired over a year before the magazine of that name, an unconventional sports section, and 500 display ads a week.įor the last eight years, all the editorial sections of the Voice and much of its display advertising have been edited, designed, and output using the Atex dedicated composition system. Though the Voice may fall into the “alternative newsweekly” category, it’s a big paper: With an editorial staff of about 40 and a classified staff of roughly the same size, complemented by art and production departments totalling some 35, the Voice churns out 160 tabloid pages every week (some 200 pages for the one issue a month comprising the Voice Literary Supplement). Under the Atex system, says Linda Nelson, director of new media and technology, “designers get a line count from the formatted Atex story and use it to draw paper layouts. Type is then sent by the copy department in galley form, and pasted up on boards by production staff according to the layout – the old tried, true, and quite efficient method.” Then, finished boards are shot and stored as film negatives. Each week, editorial and advertising pages close no later than Monday night, with materials shipped to a (non-union) plant in Virginia on Tuesday for printing finished copies are distributed locally (and beyond) starting on Wednesday. The decision to go desktop took place about five years ago when Atex’s parent company was in the throes of bankruptcy, but more than the longevity of Atex was on the minds of Voice executives.

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