Okay this is my first post to this site (maybe to any board) and I'm sure this has been discussed plenty of times before. I currently present as male and here in the last few months the dysphorea that i have passively felt since i was a young teen has finally gotten to a point where i can no longer ignore it. I'm 21 years old and I am an EMT and firefighter in Georgia. The problem that I have is that in such a conservative career field and in a state with absolutely no LGBT employee protections that makes transition incredibly difficult while staying in a career that i truly love. I am young enough to where i could go back to school but I'm less than enthusiastic to do that.

Are there anyone else who was able to stay employed in EMS (or any other ultra-conservative career field) through transition and if so what was your experience with co-workers and the general public while on the job.     

another option may be to change your location, every major city is looking for experienced EMT and firefighters. There was a story in the paper not more than a year ago about a new york fire fighter like third generation firefighter who transisioned on the job, and ya things where weird at first but once people got used to it and realized they where the same hard working indvidual that would be by there side in the worst of it things calmed down.

heck in new york you would likely suffer more for coming out as a red sox fan than transgender.

Serena

Quote from: Valwen on September 09, 2015, 12:13:21 AM
another option may be to change your location, every major city is looking for experienced EMT and firefighters. There was a story in the paper not more than a year ago about a new york fire fighter like third generation firefighter who transisioned on the job, and ya things where weird at first but once people got used to it and realized they where the same hard working indvidual that would be by there side in the worst of it things calmed down.

heck in new york you would likely suffer more for coming out as a red sox fan than transgender.

Serena

I have considered relocation. I have some friends in Chicago and I've heard that Illinois is one of the better states for trans employee protections. I am still pretty fresh out of training so it will be a while before that option becomes available but once i get 6-12 months on my resume i should be able to pick up and move.

2nd vote for investigating areas to relocate to. In the  interim now may be the time to find a therapist and investigate safe ways to express yourself outside of the job. Better to be proactive than to let the dysphoria build to crisis levels.