Houston Female Firefighters Defend Dept.

Houston Mayor Bill White held a closed-door meeting with nearly two dozen female firefighters on Tuesday and they told him they have never had a problem.

Aug. 4, 2009

3 min read

HOUSTON --

Houston Mayor Bill White held a closed-door meeting with nearly two dozen female firefighters on Tuesday and they told him they have never had a problem of race or gender discrimination, KPRC Local 2 reported.

The meeting was held to discuss the recent controversy over allegations of racism and sexism in the Houston Fire Department.

The meeting lasted about two hours. White said afterward that he does not believe gender discrimination in the department is widespread.

"Some made that point emphatically based on what they were experiencing today," White said.

"We're being perceived like we're racists, there's sexual harassment, there's a lot of gender discrimination. That's not the case," firefighter Iris Rodriguez said.

Some of the veteran firefighters like Iris Rodriguez were angry. They complained that continuing publicity over the harassment complaint lodged by Paula Keyes and Jane Draycott is hurting the department.

"It is not for us to say that those issues or some similar issues don't exist. But it has been so overplayed by the media, it is damaging to all of us as firefighters. It's damaging to the city of Houston," firefighter Julie Childress said.

"I feel embarrassed. I feel embarrassed. And I think we don't deserve that and the public doesn't deserve that," Capt. Juliet Higgens said.

But on the other side are women like former firefighter Linda Leslie, who complained there is a systemic problem with discrimination in the fire department.

"It's happened in the past. It's happening now. It's going to happen in the future," Leslie said.

Houston council member Jolanda Jones put out a letter on Tuesday signed by 68 current and former firefighters urging her not to allow the city to shift its focus from getting to the bottom of the alleged problems.

"The best way to get the media and other parties to stop asking questions is find the problems and fix them and stop deflecting," Jones said.

According to officials within the mayor's office, the meeting was a follow-up to another meeting he had two weeks ago with a group of firefighters from a variety of races.

In July, Draycott and Keyes reported finding graffiti in their lockers and racist and sexist graffiti on the walls at fire station 54.

A judge has ordered Draycott to submit a writing sample on Wednesday. No other firefighters at station 54 have been requested to give a handwriting sample. Draycott and Keyes have already taken polygraph tests.

Houston City Council is expected to vote Wednesday on hiring two Houston law firms to study procedures in the fire department and to make recommendations for improvements.