Last month we reported that New York City's Department of Health would be voting on whether or not to allow people to change their gender without undergoing surgery. If passed, the vote would be a landmark - other states require expensive (and painful) surgery for people to legally switch genders.

Now the Department, led by the dreamy Dr. Thomas Frieden, has decided to hold off on the vote to look into whether or not the law conflicts with federal rules. Despite the delay, the health department voted on another rule change. The Advocate reports:

While it delayed making that change, the Board of Health went ahead with a related policy revision that for the first time will allow people who have undergone sex-change surgery to list their new sex on their birth documents. Previously, the city had simply issued a new birth certificate that removed any reference to gender

Though the new policy is a certainly a win, not everyone's celebrating. Trangender rights lawyer Cole Thaler laments, "Some people are physically unable to have the surgery, for health reasons...I'm hopeful that time will lead to a more fair result." It's also worth noting that neither move addresses the problems facing people who would rather not identify as either male or female. Although, such a move's probably a long way coming.