i bet the tax rate will be going up in this neighborhood
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Saturday February 17 9:49 AM ET
San Francisco to fund sex changes for city
workers
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco plans to become the first U.S. city to finance sex change
operations for city workers under its health care benefits program, officials said Friday.
The proposal, which is expected to receive final approval from the city Board of Supervisors and Mayor Willie
Brown, would permit city employees to claim up to $50,000 of the cost of sex reassignment surgery,
Supervisor Mark Leno said.
``This is a medically diagnosed condition -- gender identity disorder. One does not enter in to this cavalierly. It
really is a matter of equal benefits for equal work,'' Leno said.
The change, which would go into effect July 1, would make 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.
San Francisco currently has about a dozen ``transgender'' employees on its municipal payroll. Officials estimate
that as many as 35 city workers might take advantage of the new benefit in the first year, 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. REUTERS |
