State Appeals Court denies request to alter birth certificate

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A state appelate court has rejected an attempt by a police officer to have the gender on the officer's Ohio birth certificate changed from man to woman. <br/><br/>Paula Sophia

Wednesday, June 1st 2005, 12:00 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A state appelate court has rejected an attempt by a police officer to have the gender on the officer's Ohio birth certificate changed from man to woman.

Paula Sophia Schonauer was born as a male in Ohio and joined the Oklahoma City Police Department in 1992.

Schonauer had surgery to change gender in 2002. She has a U.S. passport and Oklahoma driver's license that designate her as a female.

The state Court of Civil Appeals ruled Tuesday that neither Oklahoma nor Ohio law authorizes courts to alter birth certificates.

Schonauer was appealing an Oklahoma County District Court ruling that also rejected the request.

A brief filed by Schonauer said 20 other states have specific statutes dealing with changing records when a person undergoes a medical procedure resulting in a physical gender change.

``Oklahoma is not among those states,'' the state Court of Civil Appeals said.