Health Benefits to Cover Sex Changes: "It's No Big Deal"

The council voted unanimously Tuesday night to order the city manager to create a feasibility study before the measure comes back to the council in six months for final approval.

The vote was cast without comment, in contrast to the media frenzy that broke out last week after the proposal was put on the agenda. The measure is modeled after a similar benefit in effect in San Francisco since 2001.

Berkeley City Councilman Darryl Moore, who co-sponsored the resolution with colleague Kriss Worthington, said his phone has been ringing off the hook with calls from news operations across the country.

"If this was 10 years ago, or if Berkeley was the first city to do this, I could understand the fuss," he said. "But this is 2007. It's no big deal."

Moore predicted only a handful of city workers will apply for the benefit.

"When they established the policy in San Francisco, there were dire predictions that people would move to the city in droves to take advantage of it," he said. "It never happened, and it won't happen here, either."

Former City Council candidate Merrilee Mitchell opposed the proposal, likening the surgery to elective cosmetic procedures. But another former council candidate, George Beier, disagreed.

"It's not like getting a nose job or losing 40 pounds," he said. "It's like your

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sexuality — it goes to the essence of who you are."