City by the Bay goes Gender Neutral image:35231:0::0

"USA Today reports that the city's Board of Supervisors agreed yesterday to issue municipal ID cards next year showing name, birth date and photo - but not gender.”

When other cities were debating ID cards without regard to legal status, the city’s transgender advocates group added gender identity to the mix.

They argued that changing name and gender is a time consuming and expensive legal process.

"The card really makes gender a non-issue," says Kristina Wertz, legal director of the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco.

Not everyone agrees with the decision. Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, expressed concern that the new card will foster the notion gender identity is flexible.

"It gives support to the philosophy that says gender is a social construct," Sprigg says. "I think that philosophy is harmful to society at large.”