[QUOTE=Jacob Visser;91001]Biologically there is no such thing as "race". DNA will not give clear rules to separate people in races (even if leaving room for fuzzy areas.) Race is a purely social construction based on chosen physical characteristics.[/QUOTE]

I understand that, but I wouldn't be surprised if "Race" is a category on birth certificates in NY.

My point, clearly missing your funny bone, is that this is STUPID. If someone has had "gender reassignment" surgery fine, but just because someone dresses as a man or woman should not mean that they can be called as such.

[QUOTE=Jacob Visser;91001]Biologically there is no such thing as "race". DNA will not give clear rules to separate people in races (even if leaving room for fuzzy areas.) Race is a purely social construction based on chosen physical characteristics.[/QUOTE]Biogenetic clustering shows that 'race' can be seen in DNA. It is not foolproof, nor do I think it matters much to most people most of the time. The only times that I would suspect that it could be useful are, broad health issues that seem to have a correlation based upon 'race' and secondly, cases where DNA is left at a crime scene and it may give the police a chance to enhance their suspect desciption.

Here is a quote from a 2005 article [URL="http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1196372"]http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1196372[/URL][quote][CENTER][B]Abstract[/B][/CENTER]
We have analyzed genetic data for 326 microsatellite markers that were typed uniformly in a large multiethnic population-based sample of individuals as part of a study of the genetics of hypertension (Family Blood Pressure Program). Subjects identified themselves as belonging to one of four major racial/ethnic groups (white, African American, East Asian, and Hispanic) and were recruited from 15 different geographic locales within the United States and Taiwan. Genetic cluster analysis of the microsatellite markers produced four major clusters, which showed near-perfect correspondence with the four self-reported race/ethnicity categories. Of 3,636 subjects of varying race/ethnicity, only 5 (0.14%) showed genetic cluster membership different from their self-identified race/ethnicity. On the other hand, we detected only modest genetic differentiation between different current geographic locales within each race/ethnicity group. Thus, ancient geographic ancestry, which is highly correlated with self-identified race/ethnicity—as opposed to current residence—is the major determinant of genetic structure in the U.S. population. Implications of this genetic structure for case-control association studies are discussed.[/quote]