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Posted: 5/7/2001 1:35:37 AM EDT





Tuesday May 1 10:19 AM ET
City Okays Sex Changes for City Workers

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco, famed as a liberal bastion, broke new ground on Monday as officials voted to make it the first city in the country to finance sex changes for municipal employees.

The governing Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 to approve the proposal, which allows city workers to claim up to $50,000 of the cost of a sex change, including psychotherapy, hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery.

``We should afford our transgender brothers and sisters equal dignity and respect and honor to be able to participate as full citizens in San Francisco,'' Supervisor Mark Leno, who proposed the legislation, said.

The vote had initially been scheduled for last week but was postponed after one member of the board unexpectedly came out against the proposal and two others who backed it were absent.

Supervisor Tony Hall said the measure was a form of ''reverse discrimination'' that would allow transgender persons to achieve their goals but would leave other city employees unhappy with their physical bodies without the benefit of taxpayer-funded elective surgery. ''You only have to open the newspaper to see ads that cater to many people who are not satisfied with the size of their existing appendages...and this too effects their mental health,'' Hall said.

Leno and transgender advocates have dismissed Hall's objection, saying gender identity disorder is a medically diagnosed condition and stressing that the issue is simply one of equitable treatment.

``This legislation is not about providing cosmetic surgery to a small group of employees but making sure that transgender workers get the same rights as their colleagues,'' Leno wrote in an editorial in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle.

The change, expected to be signed by Mayor Willie Brown and go into effect on July 1, makes San Francisco the first U.S. city to partially finance sex changes for city workers. The total cost for such surgery is estimated at about $37,000 for male-to-female procedures, and about $77,000 for more complicated female-to-male operations.

The city budget analyst estimated the expanded benefits could cost San Francisco more than $680,000 per year for its share of city worker insurance payments. It will also cost each of the some 50,000 current and retired city workers on the plan an additional $1.70 per month.

San Francisco currently has about a dozen ``transgender'' employees on its municipal payroll. Officials have estimated that in the first year as many as 35 city workers might take advantage of the new benefit, costing about $1.75 million.

San Francisco, known for its liberal social attitudes, passed a city law in 1995 prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity in city contracting.

It has also passed a landmark ordinance requiring companies doing business with the city to offer the same benefits to employees with domestic partners -- either gay or straight -- as they do for married employees.


Any suggestions on a pro gun state with a good high tech industry and a conservative consensus among the people.  This place is out of hand.
Link Posted: 5/7/2001 3:12:46 AM EDT
[#1]
Link Posted: 5/7/2001 3:13:16 AM EDT
[#2]
Don't worry!

Sounds like an isolated SF incident to me.
Link Posted: 5/7/2001 3:19:34 AM EDT
[#3]
Link Posted: 5/7/2001 3:28:10 AM EDT
[#4]
might want to look at the Melbourne Beach, Fl area.  Also pro-gun and LOTS of work.  Hi-tech and low tech!!
Link Posted: 5/7/2001 3:30:44 AM EDT
[#5]
What took you so long?[:D]
Link Posted: 5/7/2001 3:37:19 AM EDT
[#6]
Try the Dallas/Ft Worth area. There are thousands of tech jobs here, housing is inexpensive, TONS of SINGLE women:), no state income tax, and most important of all.. NO ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN!!!!!, our gun laws are pretty good. I know someone in the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia who had several friends that left the state because of the gun laws and the liberal BS.

P.S. Anyone know where I can get a Bushmaster pre-ban lower? If you do, please email me!

John
Link Posted: 5/7/2001 1:45:47 PM EDT
[#7]
You really don't have to go far...  NV, AZ, ID and UT all have various type of Hi-Tech jobs available.  You could also consider WA, or OR, but with all the Liberal California transplants that have migrated there, it won't be long before they're as screwed up as here.

I am leaving...  I decided last year it was time to go, and as soon as I have 2 years in the house, it'll be sold, no sense losing all the money to the Feds and the State in Capital Gains taxes.

Not another day goes by that I don't dream of living in Free-Territory...  The Liberal bastards can all rot in hell, I am outta here!  [:D]
Link Posted: 5/7/2001 2:01:21 PM EDT
[#8]
DAMN- I gotta move ta Frithco- I'm a lesbian trapped in a man's body.....maybe the surgery will help...>choke< >:^D
Link Posted: 5/7/2001 2:30:57 PM EDT
[#9]
My brother moved to Texas from San Fran last year and said it was the best decision he ever made in his life.  Do it.
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