http://www.365gay.com/Newscon05/11/112805fire.htmBonnie Bleskachek shattered a couple of glass ceilings on her climb toward the top job in the Minneapolis Fire Department, but that was never part of her plan.
"I never went into this trying to represent this group or that one," said Bleskachek, the first female chief in this city's history, and the only openly gay fire chief of any major city. "I only wanted to be here if I felt like I was adding something to the organization personally."
After a little more than a year on the job, though, Bleskachek grasps the symbolism of her achievement and has accepted speaking engagements and appearances around the country. But her story isn't so much one of succeeding in spite of her gender and sexual preference as it is how she drew strength from those things to get where she is.
"People want to know, is it lonely at the top?" Bleskachek said. "And I tell them, you know, I've been an outsider my whole life."
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