diff --git a/src/main/scala/is/hail/expr/Parser.scala b/src/main/scala/is/hail/expr/Parser.scala
index 34b10df77fd..63c5d07c69f 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/is/hail/expr/Parser.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/is/hail/expr/Parser.scala
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ object Parser extends JavaTokenParsers {
     (anyFailAllFail(names), types,
       () => {
         (types, f()).zipped.map { case (t, v) =>
-          t.str(v)
+          TableAnnotationImpex.exportAnnotation(v, t)
         }
       })
   }
diff --git a/src/main/scala/is/hail/keytable/KeyTable.scala b/src/main/scala/is/hail/keytable/KeyTable.scala
index 125fedc0188..65664c8a9f8 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/is/hail/keytable/KeyTable.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/is/hail/keytable/KeyTable.scala
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ case class KeyTable(hc: HailContext, rdd: RDD[Row],
         sb.clear()
 
         localTypes.indices.foreachBetween { i =>
-          sb.append(localTypes(i).str(r.get(i)))
+          sb.append(TableAnnotationImpex.exportAnnotation(r.get(i), localTypes(i)))
         }(sb += '\t')
 
         sb.result()
diff --git a/src/main/scala/is/hail/variant/Variant.scala b/src/main/scala/is/hail/variant/Variant.scala
index 96d3d3afeb3..022c8db45b3 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/is/hail/variant/Variant.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/is/hail/variant/Variant.scala
@@ -29,8 +29,12 @@ object Contig {
 
   def gen: Gen[Contig] = for {
     name <- Gen.identifier
-    length <- Gen.posInt
+    length <- Gen.choose(1000000, 500000000)
   } yield Contig(name, length)
+
+  def gen(gr: GenomeReference): Gen[Contig] = for {
+    contig <- Gen.oneOfSeq(gr.contigs)
+  } yield contig
 }
 
 case class Contig(name: String, length: Int) {
@@ -97,8 +101,8 @@ case class AltAllele(ref: String,
 
   def isStar: Boolean = alt == "*"
 
-  def isSNP: Boolean = !isStar && ( (ref.length == 1 && alt.length == 1) ||
-    (ref.length == alt.length && nMismatch == 1) )
+  def isSNP: Boolean = !isStar && ((ref.length == 1 && alt.length == 1) ||
+    (ref.length == alt.length && nMismatch == 1))
 
   def isMNP: Boolean = ref.length > 1 &&
     ref.length == alt.length &&
@@ -232,37 +236,43 @@ object Variant {
 
 object VariantSubgen {
   val random = VariantSubgen(
-    contigGen = Gen.identifier,
-    startGen = Gen.posInt,
+    contigGen = Contig.gen,
     nAllelesGen = Gen.frequency((5, Gen.const(2)), (1, Gen.choose(2, 10))),
     refGen = genDNAString,
     altGen = Gen.frequency((10, genDNAString),
       (1, Gen.const("*"))))
 
-  val plinkCompatible = random.copy(
-    contigGen = Gen.choose(1, 22).map(_.toString)
-  )
+  val plinkCompatible = {
+    val contigGen = for {
+      name <- Gen.choose(1, 22).map(_.toString)
+      length <- Gen.choose(1000000, 500000000)
+    } yield Contig(name, length)
+
+    random.copy(contigGen = contigGen)
+  }
 
   val biallelic = random.copy(nAllelesGen = Gen.const(2))
+
+  def fromGenomeRef(gr: GenomeReference): VariantSubgen =
+    random.copy(contigGen = Contig.gen(gr))
 }
 
 case class VariantSubgen(
-  contigGen: Gen[String],
-  startGen: Gen[Int],
+  contigGen: Gen[Contig],
   nAllelesGen: Gen[Int],
   refGen: Gen[String],
   altGen: Gen[String]) {
 
   def gen: Gen[Variant] =
     for (contig <- contigGen;
-      start <- startGen;
+      start <- Gen.choose(1, contig.length);
       nAlleles <- nAllelesGen;
       ref <- refGen;
       altAlleles <- Gen.distinctBuildableOfN[Array, String](
         nAlleles,
         altGen)
         .filter(!_.contains(ref))) yield
-      Variant(contig, start, ref, altAlleles.tail.map(alt => AltAllele(ref, alt)))
+      Variant(contig.name, start, ref, altAlleles.tail.map(alt => AltAllele(ref, alt)))
 }
 
 case class Variant(contig: String,
@@ -301,13 +311,19 @@ case class Variant(contig: String,
   def isAutosomalOrPseudoAutosomal: Boolean =
     isAutosomal || inXPar || inYPar
 
+  def isAutosomalOrPseudoAutosomal(gr: GenomeReference): Boolean = isAutosomal(gr) || inXPar(gr) || inYPar(gr)
+
   def isAutosomal = !(inX || inY || isMitochondrial)
 
+  def isAutosomal(gr: GenomeReference): Boolean = !(inX(gr) || inY(gr) || isMitochondrial(gr))
+
   def isMitochondrial = {
     val c = contig.toUpperCase
     c == "MT" || c == "M" || c == "26"
   }
 
+  def isMitochondrial(gr: GenomeReference): Boolean = gr.isMitochondrial(contig)
+
   // PAR regions of sex chromosomes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoautosomal_region
   // Boundaries for build GRCh37: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/genome/assembly/grc/human/
   def inXParPos: Boolean = (60001 <= start && start <= 2699520) || (154931044 <= start && start <= 155260560)
@@ -317,16 +333,28 @@ case class Variant(contig: String,
   // FIXME: will replace with contig == "X" etc once bgen/plink support is merged and conversion is handled by import
   def inXPar: Boolean = inX && inXParPos
 
+  def inXPar(gr: GenomeReference): Boolean = gr.inXPar(locus)
+
   def inYPar: Boolean = inY && inYParPos
 
+  def inYPar(gr: GenomeReference): Boolean = gr.inYPar(locus)
+
   def inXNonPar: Boolean = inX && !inXParPos
 
+  def inXNonPar(gr: GenomeReference): Boolean = inX(gr) && !inXPar(gr)
+
   def inYNonPar: Boolean = inY && !inYParPos
 
+  def inYNonPar(gr: GenomeReference): Boolean = inY(gr) && !inYPar(gr)
+
   private def inX: Boolean = contig.toUpperCase == "X" || contig == "23" || contig == "25"
 
+  private def inX(gr: GenomeReference): Boolean = gr.inX(contig)
+
   private def inY: Boolean = contig.toUpperCase == "Y" || contig == "24"
 
+  private def inY(gr: GenomeReference): Boolean = gr.inY(contig)
+
   import CopyState._
 
   def copyState(sex: Sex.Sex): CopyState =
@@ -340,6 +368,17 @@ case class Variant(contig: String,
     else
       Auto
 
+  def copyState(sex: Sex.Sex, gr: GenomeReference): CopyState =
+    if (sex == Sex.Male)
+      if (inXNonPar(gr))
+        HemiX
+      else if (inYNonPar(gr))
+        HemiY
+      else
+        Auto
+    else
+      Auto
+
   def compare(that: Variant): Int = {
     var c = Contig.compare(contig, that.contig)
     if (c != 0)
diff --git a/src/test/scala/is/hail/variant/GenomeReferenceSuite.scala b/src/test/scala/is/hail/variant/GenomeReferenceSuite.scala
index cbd6b191aef..a33158e1385 100644
--- a/src/test/scala/is/hail/variant/GenomeReferenceSuite.scala
+++ b/src/test/scala/is/hail/variant/GenomeReferenceSuite.scala
@@ -47,4 +47,25 @@ class GenomeReferenceSuite extends SparkSuite {
     intercept[IllegalArgumentException](GenomeReference("test", Array(Contig("1", 5), Contig("2", 5), Contig("3", 5)),
       Set.empty[String], Set.empty[String], Set("MT"), Array(Interval(Locus("X", 1), Locus("X", 5)))))
   }
+
+  @Test def testVariant() {
+    val gr = GenomeReference.GRCh37
+
+    val v1 = Variant("1", 50000, "A", "T")
+    val v2 = Variant("X", 2499520, "T", "G")
+    val v3 = Variant("Y", 50001, "G", "C")
+    val v4 = Variant("MT", 30, "T", "G")
+    val v5 = Variant("X", 50, "G", "A")
+    val v6 = Variant("Y", 5000, "C", "T")
+
+    for (v <- Array(v1, v2, v3, v4, v5, v6)) {
+      assert(v.isAutosomal == v.isAutosomal(gr))
+      assert(v.isAutosomalOrPseudoAutosomal == v.isAutosomalOrPseudoAutosomal(gr))
+      assert(v.isMitochondrial == v.isMitochondrial(gr))
+      assert(v.inXPar == v.inXPar(gr))
+      assert(v.inYPar == v.inYPar(gr))
+      assert(v.inXNonPar == v.inXNonPar(gr))
+      assert(v.inYNonPar == v.inYNonPar(gr))
+    }
+  }
 }