Gay firefighter ‘pretended to have a girlfriend’ due to fear of coming out to colleagues
Gay firefighter Nick Couch opened up about his fears of coming out to colleagues, including pretending to have a girlfriend.
In a video interview, the Honiton Fire Station staff member explained what it was like for him to come to terms with his sexuality. “I knew for a long time that I was gay and to find the courage to tell all the guys on the station was going to be, sort of, a tough nut to crack,” Couch explained.
Since becoming a firefighter at the age of 18, he has spent 24 years working as one and is now based at the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.
When he first started, he was so fearful of telling colleagues the truth about his sexuality that he pretended to have a girlfriend. “I think because I was so young, like, when I knew and then I thought, like, even walking around the high street, ‘oh, I’ve just joined the fire service at 18, oh I’d better have a girlfriend’ because everyone else had wives and everything else,” he explained.
