‘A Giant Sick Joke’: FDNY’s Gender Identity Training Sparks Internal Pushback

In New York City, fire department employees are lectured about “The Genderbread Person”—a cartoon that is part of mandatory diversity, equity, and inclusion training that is meant to explain the “spectrum of countless identities” people can have.

In the fire department’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s training video, which employees are required to view by December, firefighters are presented with the Genderbread cartoon explaining the differences between gender identity, gender expression, sex, and sexual orientation.

A screenshot from the New York City Fire Department Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s training video showing “The Genderbread Person.”

The Daily Signal has obtained a copy of the video.

“This is a giant sick joke. No one takes it seriously,” an active New York City fireman told The Daily Signal. “The Genderbread Person looks like the FDNY got a contract with some activist group who specializes in children’s propaganda.”

The FDNY source added that “it’s scientifically inaccurate, and having it explained to you as if you were a 4-year-old in a condescending manner by a cartoon gingerbread man is insulting, weird, and wrong.”

The Genderbread Person was originally created by feminist and self-described “social justice comedian” Sam Killermann, according to his website It’s Pronounced Metrosexual.

The training video also features slides of transgender “Orange Is the New Black” actor Laverne Cox, black Atlanta firefighter Anaré Holmes discussing how he is in “the affirmation business,” and a segment where unseen speakers discuss “penises and vaginas” when trying to explain the difference between gender identity and gender expression.

A screenshot from the New York City Fire Department Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s training video featuring transgender actor Laverne Cox.

“So, let’s talk about penises and vaginas, shall we? Let’s just go right there,” exclaims a female voice.

A male voice responds, in an attempt at a humorous tone, that “if you haven’t already talked about penises and vaginas, we need to talk about penises and vaginas.”

The female voice says, “The bottom line is, your external genitalia does not dictate your gender.”

The FDNY source explained that there are more important things to discuss than his fellow firefighters’ genitals.

“If Johnnie is forcing a door and he gets his penis hit by a maul, maybe that would be a good time to talk about penises and vaginas, but until it comes up, we actually don’t have to talk about it,” said the source. “Why don’t we see if the junior members can force a door or put the rig in pumps first?”

A screenshot from the New York City Fire Department Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training video.

The video also features a series of multiple choice questions for the firefighters to answer, one of which asks, “What two words does the Q stand for in the LGBTQ+ acronym?”  The answers offered are A. “Quartet, Queer,” B. “Queen, Quiet,” C. “Queer, Questioning,” and D. “Quiet, Quartet.”

“As far as questioning who you are, I would suggest seeking therapy,” said the source. “This is serious business for serious people. We don’t care who you are, as long as you can do the job.”

New York City Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker was hired by Mayor Eric Adams in August. At the commissioner’s swearing in ceremony, Adams said that Tucker would “put out the flames that are actually burning inside the agency.”

Amanda Farinacci, an FDNY spokeswoman, told The Daily Signal that “The fire commissioner supports the work of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office, and trainings like the one for LGBTQ+ are required pursuant to Executive Order 16. The FDNY offers such trainings to promote awareness and understanding for our members.”

Executive Order 16 mandates that all New York City agencies ensure access to single-sex facilities based on an individual’s chosen gender identity or expression rather than his or her actual sex as determined by one’s DNA. Official identification, medical proof, or gender verification are not required.

The FDNY source said that he won’t speak out publicly for fear of losing his job. “No one will say anything because we’re not allowed to have opinions that differ from this odd narrative,” the source said.

Michele Fitzsimmons, a battalion chief who was featured in the video giving a history of gay rights, told The Daily Signal that she “had nothing to do with the production of the video.”

“I was basically given a clip that I talked in, and that’s all I had to do with it, really. I wasn’t involved with developing it or anything like that,” said Fitzsimmons.

(Editor’s note: This article uses the convention of referring to unnamed sources using male pronouns, but this editorial decision should not be taken as revealing the actual sex of the individual.)

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