WASHINGTON (AP) — When Koset Surakomol decided to have a sex change operation, the company she worked for told her co-workers that the man they'd labored alongside for a dozen years should be addressed as a woman going forward.

But EMC Corp.'s support didn't end there: The data storage company paid tens of thousands of dollars for her to undergo hormone therapy, breast augmentation and facial contouring. It also will foot the bill later this year when Surakomol has the operation that will complete her transformation — a benefit EMC began offering in 2007.

"I got no bad reactions, no cold shoulders," says Surakomol, an information technology engineer. "All I heard was, 'This is wonderful.'"

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