The Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 at a contentious 90-minute hearing Tuesday to approve a resolution prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

The resolution applies to Alameda County employment, services and facilities.

Speaker Terry Thompson urged supervisors to vote against the resolution, warning them that "you're stepping into a minefield" and there could be "unintended consequences" such as girls in public bathrooms being frightened by transgender people.

Missionary Desiree Furrell of San Leandro told the board that by approving the resolution, supervisors would be "holding fire to your bosom and you will be burned."

Marcus Arana of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, who enforces San Francisco's 10-year-old ordinance banning discrimination based on gender, said passing the ordinance would make Alameda County consistent with a recent state law banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender and gender identity.

Arana said that in the 10 years San Francisco's ordinance has been in place, there hasn't been a single report of a problem posed by transgender people using public restrooms "to prey on children and women."

Arana said, "It doesn't happen."

Supervisor Nate Miley said, "I don't see why people get in such a huff and puff" over the ordinance, stating that it isn't breaking any new legal ground.

Miley said he thinks the opposition to the ordinance is "utterly ridiculous" and based on "red herrings," such as fear of people being frightened in public restrooms.

Miley called for tolerance and love, saying, "I don't understand why people want to change their gender, but it's not for me to understand it."

Supervisor Scott Haggerty expressed concern that the county's ordinance is stronger than the state's law in terms of banning discrimination in public facilities such as restrooms.

Despite his reservations, Haggerty voted in favor of the ordinance, stating, "If I voted against it, I'd be labeled a racist."

After the vote, Arana said that although the state's anti-discrimination law supersedes the county's ordinance, the board's vote is an important symbolic action.

It shows that "hate is not a local value of Alameda County and reiterates Alameda County's commitment to protecting county employees and facilities from discrimination," Arana said.

The board's vote updates and expands a 1990 resolution prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.