Making Legal History with Christopher Uric Brecht-Smith Artwork

Shift Out Loud with Tracy Spears

Hosted by Tracy Spears, speaker, co-author of two best selling leadership books, founder of The Leader Lab, coach, and head cheerleader for anyone trying to play bigger. Shift Out Loud is a podcast designed to inspire you to play bigger. You'll hear from real live people sharing what their shift was, when it happened, and why it was out loud. What you think is true, and when you move from the external locus of control to the internal locus of control, your shift can happen and anything becomes possible. This podcast is your invitation to listen to others who have made the shift, and also serve as a catalyst for you to play bigger.

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Shift Out Loud with Tracy Spears

Making Legal History with Christopher Uric Brecht-Smith

June 20, 2023 • Tracy Spears / Christopher Uric Brecht-Smit • Season 2 • Episode 35

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Christopher Uric Brecht-Smith is a trailblazer in championing equality, and his passion for playing a bigger game has led him to make legal history… not once, but twice! Chris studied journalism at Oklahoma State University before shifting gears to pursue a juris doctorate from the University of Tulsa… and this shift would have a MASSIVE, reverberating impact for his community.

Chris now practices family, guardianship, and adoption law as a partner at McDaniel Acord in south Tulsa. In 2019, he and his husband, Michael, obtained an appeal from the Supreme Court of Oklahoma that recognizes and acknowledges the parental rights of nonbiological same-sex parents on the same basis as their biological parental counterparts. Two years later, he obtained the first nonbinary birth certificate ever issued in the State of Oklahoma.

In this episode of Shift Out Loud, Chris and I talk about his family’s reaction to his coming out, the importance of paying heed to your internal voice, and his unexpected shift into practicing groundbreaking constitutional law.

Listen now to discover:

How he won a paradigm-shifting, landmark appeal as a new lawyer
The unfortunate human cost of his history-making case
A step-by-step overview of the civil rights lawsuit that led Oklahoma to issue a nonbinary birth certificate

Guest bio: Christopher Uric Brecht-Smit is an Oklahoma boy through and through. Born in Edmond, Oklahoma, Chris attended Oklahoma State University in Stillwater for journalism and earned a juris doctorate from the University of Tulsa. His law practice heavily emphasizes LGBTQ+ representation. He lives in Tulsa with his husband Michael Brecht-Smith, also an attorney, and their two fur babies.

Timestamps:

01:50 Intro

03:40 Meet Christopher Uric Brecht-Smith

10:07 Shift from journalism to law

16:01 Edmond & OSU

18:39 Coming out to family

28:18 Figuring it out & moving on

35:15 Being present & gracious

43:15 Nonbiological same-sex parental rights

51:53 Shift to diversity

55:47 Nonbinary birth certificate case

1:04:44 Equality gala