Today, Lance Garland will spend his time on Bainbridge Island, tending to his cats, dogs, and chickens. In his free time, he'll write a poem or two, reflecting on the serenity, the quietness. Fast forward a few weeks, and Garland will be atop the Matterhorn, one of the highest peaks in Europe. Along with his team of mountaineers and photographers, Garland will blaze a trail for Queer climbers everywhere in an expedition that begins began on July 19 and is expected to wrap up on August 5.
And yet it won't be the first time he has paved a new path for others — outside of climbing and writing, Garland is the first openly Gay firefighter in the history of the Seattle Fire Department.
He grew up in Federal Way, Washington, served in the Navy, and then studied creative writing at the University of Washington. After graduation, he simultaneously started two careers: as a firefighter and as a writer. Although the two seem unrelated, he finds a strong purpose in both careers.
"Writing is a way to try and give back, especially to the Gay community," Garland said. "I try to focus on writing that fills a hole that wasn't previously filled, kind of like in firefighting."
Pushing through barriers
Garland's job as a firefighter came with its hurdles.
"It's harder automatically if you're the only one," Garland said. "You have all these questions, like 'Is it safe? Will it go well? Is this going to be a negative for me?'"
Yet despite his doubts, he was supported in his firefighting career.
"I would never have felt comfortable being a firefighter without the support of my community, Cap Hill, and the city of Seattle," Garland said. "I fought for marriage equality here. I remember we all went to St. Mark's Cathedral on North Capitol Hill and had our big first meeting to try and make Washington State approve marriage equality."
Even before pushing through barriers as a firefighter, Garland faced adversity. He served in the Navy during Don't Ask, Don't Tell, a hypocritical 1993 Defense Department policy that allowed Lesbian and Gay people to serve in the military but forbade them from making their sexual orientation publicly known.
"I faced some big challenges during that time," Garland said. "You have really negative side effects of being honest."
Despite feeling similar pressure to be quiet about himself as a firefighter, Garland refused to hide the fact that he was Gay.
"I wanted to be visible so that other people could see, 'Oh look, it's fine. This is great,'" Garland said. "Everybody has their own challenges but this isn't something that can't be done."
Garland has felt the same isolation in the climbing community — one of the driving factors behind his journey as a mountaineer and his upcoming expedition to the Matterhorn.
"I was always the only Gay guy around when climbing, and I'm like 'Do other Gay guys climb?'", he said.
Queer climbers connect
For his expedition proposal, titled "Beyond the False Summit: A Matterhorn Expedition to Unearth the Queer Pioneers of Alpinism," Garland has been granted a 2024 Pathfinder Prize from Hidden Compass, an organization that gives grants to expeditions in which "discovery is about understanding instead of conquering," according to the group's website. During their expedition, Garland and his team will explore the history of Queer climbers in the Swiss Alps.
"There's a very rich history of Queer climbers there," Garland said. "That was something that was not easy to find, and that's how this project started."
The expedition will bring together different Queer climbers, an important goal that Garland has focused on throughout his climbing career. Despite unique hardships and experiences, climbing connects the community, Garland believes. He describes climbing alongside an Asian American Queer woman, someone who's had vastly different experiences than himself.
"She also has felt like the only one of her kind wherever she went," said Garland. "This is the first time we've had these conversations when we're climbing. Normally we're all alone."
In his experience, climbing has helped members open up and talk more freely.
"It really is a relationship, climbing," Garland said. "How do you do this safely? How do you check your partner? It's based on openness and communication."
Climbing as Queer metaphor
In recent years, Garland has seen huge milestones made in the Queer movement — and not only in climbing.
"For me personally, it was the [2010] Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal," Garland said. "I feel like that was when the nation really started to get serious about, 'Are we going to give Queer people equal rights or not?'"
Despite the progress, Garland acknowledged his own privilege and the work that needs to be done.
"I'm a cisgendered, white Gay man, so life is obviously easier for me than a Trans person," Garland said. "I see some of the same issues [in the Trans community] that I was dealing with 20 years ago happening right now, and the same sort of hate and judgment being spread about them."
Nevertheless, the future looks bright.
"When I go to Queer ascents in California, I'm hanging out with the next generation of Queer people," Garland said. "They don't have the same baggage I have, the negative stuff I had to see. They're looking at the world as wide open for them."
As we ended our conversation, Garland reflected on how climbing is analogous to the Queer experience.
"So often, [in] our lives as Queer people, we're just reaching out, trying to find something stable and sure to keep us safe," Garland said. "We need the person on the end of the rope to keep us safe."
"We're tied to our partners in the community for survival," Garland said. "We get further and go higher when we're doing it together."
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