SAN FRANCISCO--A female San Francisco police officer announced Thursday she would have a sex change operation later this month and become the city's first openly transsexual police officer.
Sergeant Stephanie Thorne, 39, said she had been undergoing medical treatment and psychological counseling for several months and would have an operation later this month to complete her transition to a man.
Thorne, who will change her name to Stephan Thorne, said she would remain in her current job as a patrol supervisor at the Ingleside police station in San Francisco.
Thorne, a 10-year uniformed veteran of the force, first announced the sex change to reporters in the office of San Francisco police chief Tony Ribera, who praised Thorne as an outstanding supervisor.
She planned to tell her colleagues at the Ingleside police station about her intentions later Thursday.
Thorne said she was announcing her sex change publicly because it would be obvious to her colleagues anyway.
"Rather than having people find out through the rumor mill, my method of coping and dealing with things is to meet problems head-on and that's what I'm doing," she told Reuters in an interview.
"It's my way of being honest about it and letting the world know that I am not ashamed and my department is not ashamed," she said.
Thorne also said it was important to come out publicly and educate people about transsexuals. She decided to have a sex change about a year ago after considering it for many years.
Thorne said her colleagues had so far been "very accepting and professional" about her decision. She said she had the support of Ribera as well as her station's commanding officer.
Thorne said she knew of a very few other people in law enforcement agencies who had changed their sex, "but no one has been open about it." (From Reuters)
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