Tribal Fire Presenter

Paula Sophia

Paula Sophia is a transgendered woman who lives here in Oklahoma City with her partner Pam. She is the parent of two beautiful children, and she is lucky to have a good relationship with their mother. The two of them have a joint custody agreement. She is also currently still employed at the Oklahoma City Police Department where she has been for the last thirteen years. Some people are amazed that Paula would have the courage to transition on the job working in law enforcement, but Paula understands that people do what they have to do in time of crisis.

Paula struggled with her gender identity all her life before she finally admitted the truth about herself and began transitioning from male to female in November 2000. She completed the real life test, the one year trial of living full time as a woman, in November 2002 and had sexual reassignment surgery later that month with Dr. Preecha Tiewtranon in Bangkok, Thailand.

Because of Gender Identity Disorder, which is characterized by an extreme sense of gender dysphoria, Paula has pursued many paths in life, things that she tried to accomplish in order to solidify her identity as a man. She has been an ordained minister in the Episcopal Church where she is on a leave of absense from active ordained ministry and probably be facing deposition in the near future. Paula is a veteran of Desert Storm where she served as a leader in an artillery platoon. She has been a competitor in Judo and has achieved the rank of Black Belt in two styles of martial arts, Kenpo Karate and Tae Kwon Do.

Paula is a columnist for the Gayly Oklahoman and writes the Divinity and Diverstiy, Reflections on Faith column in each issue which appears twice monthly on the 1st and 15th. She is also an activist for transgender awareness and equality. At present she is pursuing her Masters Degree in Creative Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma.

2005 Presentation:

Transgender Journey
In her class Paula will give an overview about the spectrum of transgendered _expression. She hopes, also, to dispel rumors and stereotypes about transgendered people and wishes to present that they are real people with the same concerns of everyone else. One of the most enjoyable aspects of her presentations is the performance of her slam poetry as related to her struggle for gender reconciliation. She encourages all who come to the workshop to be open for discussion.