The change takes effect on Jan. 1, 2012 to coincide with open enrollment, and according to a statement, "transgender health care procedures will be included in all plans."

Seattle now joins San Francisco in offering Transgender healthcare benefits. San Francisco began offering these benefits to their employees, retirees, and their dependents in 2001.

The surprise announcement capped six months of negotiations between several City commissions, the Mayor, the City Council, and a coalition of city unions. It was timed to coincide with the annual open enrollment period in which City employees choose their healthcare plans.

More: Seattle Gay News

"People are skeptical of government," LGBT Commission Co-Chair Tiffany Nelson told the Seattle Gay News. "But they did the right thing - and in a timely way!"

This decision comes after the World Series Champions San Francisco Giants became the first professional sports team to join the effort, filming and releasing a video in which several Giants players and coaches speak out against the bullying of gay youth.

Last week, Tacoma, Wash.-resident Eric Williams, 22, launched a petition at Change.org to encourage the Mariner's participation with "It Gets Better."

Williams, an openly gay Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq before his service contract ended June 3, said the message would have transformed his youth had he heard it as a 10-year-old growing up in Excelsior Springs, Missouri.

The petition garnered more than 3,000 signatures by Thursday evening.

But Mariners spokesperson Rebecca Hale told USA Today that the increasingly popular Change.org petition was not the reason behind the team's decision.

"We didn't get convinced to do it because of a petition," Hale says. "It was something that was on our radar since the Giants' video."

Hale says filming is in the planning stages.

Just last week, the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox announced they had "It Gets Better" videos in the works.

The "It Gets Better Project," launched by Seattle-based activist and author Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller, has since compiled more than 10,000 online videos to provide support and encouragement to LGBT teens struggling with bullying and adversity.

Last year the Space Needle made international news when they flew the Pride flag for the first time ever, but Space Needle spokeswoman Mary Bacarella said in a statement Friday, “(We) are not flying the flag this year."

“We don’t make a habit of flying flags on top of the Space Needle and we make an effort not to fly any flags on a recurring basis," she said.

The decision has upset many gay-rights advocates, and hope their petition at Change.org will encourage the Space Needle, which is a a private company, to raise the pride flag again this year:

Seattle has the country's 2nd largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

When the Space Needle raised the Pride flag they made the LGBT community feel truly welcome in their home city. Not only did residents celebrate the Pride flag on the needle, but people rejoiced from around the world as news broke about the Space Needle's strong support for LGBT people. The message was clear: Seattle is a welcoming city for all.

"Inadvertently, the Space Needle’s decision is symbolic of all the losses we feel every day," wrote Seattle blogger Joe Mirabella, on Sunday.

"From a child whose parents bully them to the point they choose homelessness over abuse. To the school denying a supportive club for LGBT people. To people dying before they are equal."

You can sign the petition here; or post a comment on the Space Needle's Facebook page.

The ruling was announced in a lawsuit filed in Washington state against the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Association.

The three men were playing for a San Francisco softball team in the finals when a rival team challenged their sexuality, citing the rule that limits no more that two heterosexuals per team.

The men were "summoned to a hearing room to answer questions about their sexual interests or attractions, purportedly to determine their sexual orientation, in front of a group of more than twenty-five people, many of whom plaintiffs did not know," according to their federal complaint.

The three men, who identify as bisexual, said the questioning was intrusive and allege in the lawsuit that the NAGAAA's rule violated state anti-discrimination laws.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour found that the NAGAAA, which sponsors the annual event, can keep its rule, and wrote, "Plaintiffs have failed to argue that there is a compelling state interest in allowing heterosexuals to play gay softball."

But in allowing the case to go forward, Coughenour said "treatment of bisexuals remains of central importance to this case" and that the association "could still be liable for its actions" under the Washington Laws Against Discrimination for actions at the 2008 games.

The suit was backed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco, which said the rule discriminated against bisexuals by not including them in the broader definition of "gay."

The NAGAAA has since revised its rules to include bisexual and transgender people.

The suspect, 22, posted bond and was released from King County Jail on Monday night.

According to SLOG:

When officers arrived, the victim, a black man in his early 20s, said he and his female friend had left the community center to grab something from her vehicle.

Upon returning to the building, two men in their earlier 20s confronted the man. The men -- one of whom the victim knew as a friend of his cousin -- trapped the victim between two cars, and they "then punched the victim with closed fists on both sides of the victim's face," the report says. "Then both suspects began to yell at the victim and stated 'You gay motherfucker.'"

Security staff working for an event inside the community center responded to the assault and apprehended the man that the victim knew. The second man, the police report says, fled the scene while yelling, "I wanna beat your ass, you gay ass motherfucker."

The suspect posted bond and was released from King County Jail on Monday night.

Ryan J. Cox, 31, was arrested without incident and booked into King County Jail.

Cox was arrested in May for spray-painting the same gay slur on many businesses and a garage door. And it was that garage door that incriminated him.

The owner of the garage grew tired after being tagged seven different times. In hopes of catching the vandal, he installed a hidden camera across the street and snapped pictures of the artist in action.

Police believe the pictures show Cox spray-painting the slur.

"This is a hate crime, in my opinion," said the victim, who wished to remain anonymous.

Hate crime is a felony punishable by serious jail time.

Last May, Cox was charged with only misdemeanors for his anti-gay graffiti, and spent one month in jail.

Gay rights activists say her appointment reflects a growing acceptance in the U.S. as well as the attitude of President Barack Obama's administration. Earlier this month, Obama nominated an openly gay police sergeant to be the U.S. marshal in Minneapolis; she would be the first openly gay U.S. marshal.

Lambda Legal, a national organization that promotes equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, says it knows of no other openly gay U.S. attorneys in the nation's 93 judicial districts.

"We see it as really sort of a respectful acknowledgment that it is important to have all sorts of people represented in government," Lambda Legal spokesman Jason Perez Howe said.

Before being confirmed by the Senate a month ago, Durkan, 51, performed a wide variety of civil litigation and criminal defense work, and was active in bar associations. In 2002 she traveled to Morocco to train female candidates for parliament.

Full story, AP via KOMO-TV.