Maeve Griffith, at work and at home

In March 2016, Sarah Griffith told her husband, John, that she wanted him to let their kids know something important. Something she had known about her husband for more than two decades: That John was transgender.

Section:Gallery

Sun., Feb. 11, 2018

Capt. Maeve Griffith’s reflection is seen in a window between emergency calls on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Fire Station 3 in Spokane. “It’s hard on people,” Maeve said. “This has been extremely hard on Sarah, hard on my mom, hard on my kids, hard on people I work with, and it hasn’t made my life any easier. But its the truth. That’s it.”

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Capt. Maeve Griffith responds to a fire alarm at an apartment complex late on Friday night, Feb. 2, 2018, in Spokane, Wash.

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Capt. Maeve Griffith takes command of a scene at home where one occupant complained of severe head pain following his involvement in a brawl the night prior on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, in Spokane, Wash. Since the patient was also highly intoxicated, Griffith began a careful verbal dance of trying to ascertain what happened to the patient, while also providing treatment and calling an ambulance.

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Capt. Maeve Griffith, left, starts an IV on an unconscious man, who was likely suffering from a drug overdose, on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, in the West Central neighborhood of Spokane. Griffith is not only a firefighter but also a paramedic, so she often handles the medical issues her crew encounters on calls.

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Capt. Maeve Griffith smiles while emerging from a room in a West Central Spokane home where she and her crew arrived to lift an elderly woman back into her bed early on Friday morning, Jan. 26, 2018, in Spokane, Wash.

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Capt. Maeve Griffith fills out a report on her tablet between fire calls on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, at Station 3 in Spokane, Wash.

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Maeve Griffith undergoes electrolysis to remove unwanted facial hair on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018, in Spokane, Wash.

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Maeve Griffith places her hands on her hips as she waits to undergo an electrolysis treatment to remove facial hair on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018, in Spokane, Wash.

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Maeve Griffith proudly shows off a bottle of mead she made for her and Sarah Griffith's wedding at their home on Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, in Spokane, Wash.

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Sarah Griffith, left, laughs as her wife Maeve Griffith cracks a joke as they sit down for a late brunch on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018, at their home in Spokane, Wash. “I love her very much,” Maeve said of Sarah. “And a big part of that love is this thing we have together ... this third person that is us.”

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Sarah Griffith, right, grins as a brief sprinkling of rain mixes with intense bright sunlight while she walks with her wife Maeve Griffith on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018, in Spokane, Wash.

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Maeve Griffith prepares food in the late afternoon at the home she shares with her wife Sarah on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018, in Spokane, Wash.

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