A retired Oklahoma City police officer and transgender rights activist will speak at Women Lead Oklahoma’s Trailblazer Series at 11:45 a.m. on Friday, July 20 at the State Chamber of Oklahoma.
The Trailblazer Series is a monthly, public meeting to encourage networking and civic involvement for female professionals by inspiring them with other female leaders. Paula Sophia Schonauer will be the first transgender woman to speak at the series.
Women Lead Oklahoma is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to the inclusion of women in civic life through education and resources. Elizabeth Horn, Women Lead Oklahoma director of programming, said the kind of women who are chosen to speak at the Trailblazer Series are “women that are killing it” in their careers and endeavors.
Horn described how the trailblazer series allows a way for the professional world to seem less daunting for women.
“I think a lot of the feedback we get from people who attend trailblazer is more about what people can learn from themselves,” she said. “(And) the inspiration that comes from hearing someone else’s story.”
Schonauer, who lives in the Paseo District of Oklahoma City, was an Oklahoma City police officer for 22 years before she retired and decided to run for House of Representatives District 88 in 2014. She lost by a very slim margin, according to Peter Hermes, Director of The Real Life Test documentary, starring Schonauer. Though that didn’t stop her from becoming a prominent force in her community.
In 2002, Schonauer became an icon at Pride as the grand marshal and landed her picture on the poster. In 2017, following the murder of the transgender woman Brooklyn BreYanna Stevenson in Oklahoma City, she spoke out about transgender rights in Oklahoma. These are just a few examples of what earned Schonauer her spot as a high-profile transgender activist today.
“I am most passionate about advocacy and education, community building and helping people find coping skills to navigate the systems in which they live,” Schonauer said.
Schonauer is now a case manager and therapist for the Program for Assertive Community Treatment at the Central Oklahoma Community Mental Health Center in Norman, where she treats people with severe mental health diagnoses. She is also an adjunct humanities and social sciences professor at Rose State College and will begin teaching at OSU Oklahoma City this fall.
At the Trailblazer series, Schonauer is planning on speaking about how transgender issues are also issues that affect women and the effects of gender bias on transgender people.
“Interacting with and getting to know the stories of a trans person helps reduce prejudice and discriminatory,” Schonauer said.
Schonauer is admired by the people close to her and the many that have heard her story. It was Schonauer’s persistence in the community despite her life’s obstacles that attracted Hermes to her and the idea of doing a documentary over her life during her time of transition, which will be released for a public screening on Saturday at the Individual Arts of Oklahoma.
“Paula is an amazing soul. She is wise beyond her years and an inspiration to so many people,” Hermes said.
Tickets and RSVP are required and available through the Women Lead Oklahoma website costing $15 per person.
