There are plenty of differences between Tony Langdon and Brodie Van Vugt’s CFA stories, but both end the same way: with complete acceptance at their local fire brigade.
Tony (51) joined Woodend Fire Brigade in 1980 as an 11-year-old, before working his way up to the senior brigade as a teenager, while Brodie (23) has been a volunteer at Scoresby brigade for the past five years.
The two men are active members of both the LGBTI and CFA communities although, as Tony explains, it was uncommon to belong to both these communities when he was starting out his CFA career.
“CFA was a blokes' playground back then, with a real macho culture,” he says.
“My particular brigade didn’t actually allow women - my sister had to go to a different brigade.
“Homosexuality was complicated. It was a little bit of an unknown issue.
“There weren’t many openly gay men around, certainly not in the brigade, so any questions I had, I didn’t really have anyone around to ask.”
It's difficult to imagine the sorts of challenges that would have faced a young gay man growing up in 1980s country Victoria.
Tony joined his local brigade to follow in the footsteps of his father, who spent time as both a volunteer and employee at CFA.
He lived in Melbourne for a period of 20 years in the 1990s and 2000s, but upon returning to CFA, this time at Eaglehawk Fire Brigade in Bendigo, he was pleasantly surprised at the changes in the organisation.
“Both CFA and society has changed quite dramatically,” he says.
“It’s a totally different culture now in society and, for the most part, it’s changed for the better.
“We’ve still got a way to go, but it’s a big ship, and turning around a big ship like this takes time … certainly I think we’re heading in the right direction, and CFA is part of that.”
Despite the challenges that he faced growing up, Tony is philosophical about his journey, and instead points to the challenges someone like Brodie has to face as part of the Tech Generation.
“Brodie has grown up in the era of social media, cyber bullying. He has to deal with all that,” Tony says.
“Back when I was a young guy, the worst I could get was a threatening phone call. I could always retreat home if I needed to.”
Wear it Purple’s mission is foster supportive, safe and accepting environments for LGBTI young people.It was created in 2010 after several young people took their lives after harassment and lack of acceptance over their sexual identity.
While Tony points to social media as a challenge he didn’t have to face, Brodie is quick to point out the benefits of it as well.
“With social media, I actually think it’s easier to spread the message.
“It has to be used positively.
“Everyone is becoming more accepting, and understanding that this is the way of life.”
Brodie admits he had doubts before joining CFA in 2014.
“It was always something I wanted to do, but I definitely had reservations before I joined. I thought it might be a bit of a boys club. I hadn’t actually come out at that stage, I did that after about six months. They made an announcement at a monthly meeting in front of everyone.
“Everyone was very accepting; I couldn’t have been treated more normally."
Such has been Brodie’s importance to the station, that he was named Scoresby station’s Firefighter of the Year in 2017.
Of all the changes since both Tony and Brodie joined the ranks of CFA, probably the biggest one took place in October last year when the same-sex marriage bill was passed in parliament.
Tony has since made the most of the bill, and noted CFA's role in his big day.
“We had our wedding in May of this year, and it was actually held at a brigade member's house in Myers Flat.
“We had a number of the brigade come along as guests, and the First Lieutenant was best man.
“It was an amazing day, one that I never saw happening.”
Tony notes that with all the improvements that have been made, there is still some way to go, and says casual homophobia and sexism is still prevalent in society in general.
Brodie agrees, but is optimistic about the future.
“The work of Russell Wright has been massive, creating CFA pride.
“There’s more to do obviously. I’ve spoken to [CFA Chief Officer] Steve Warrington, and he’s keen to push on and do more as well. But it’s getting better.
“CFA is full of different backgrounds, different people, different cultures now. We’re all here to fight fires.
“Just be who you are and we’ll accept you.”