Virginia Club Bans Same-sex Couple and Their Son from Family Membership

[cynatnite]

When Will Trinkle signed up for a family membership at the Roanoke Athletic Club, he was looking forward to bringing his 2-year-old son, Oliver Trinkle-Granados, to the pool. A real-estate agent, he even relocated his office to be closer to the club. He filled out the application in front of a club employee, paid an application fee and handed over his credit card for the monthly dues, and got his membership card and one for Oliver's other dad, Trinkle's partner Juan Granados.

But about a week later, Trinkle was told that his membership had been invalidated. The club had made a big mistake in accepting the application, he says the manager told him, and the club's parent company, Carilion Clinic, did not recognize his household as a family. Furthermore, "Carilion Clinic and RAC were really going to tighten up their procedures and application so that no gay couple would ever get in again on a family membership," the manager allegedly said.

"It was actually like somebody punched us in the stomach," Trinkle told ABC 13 News. "It's from a place we couldn't imagine that there would be this kind of discrimination." He is suing the club, not for discrimination, but for breach of contract.

"The underlying case is a contract case," he told The Roanoke Times. "The primary focus of the case is for this family to have the opportunities that other families have, and to have the contract that was signed be enforced."

Trinkle's case has caught the attention of plenty of people. Roanoke native and Appalachian blogger Mark Lynn Ferguson, who is not related to or connected with Trinkle or Granados, was so struck by the case that he launched a petition on Change.org recently, calling on the club and Carilion to "treat all families with respect" and to honor the membership agreement they originally made with the Trinkle-Granados family. His petition already has nearly 50,000 signatures.

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/virginia-club-bans-same-sex-couple-son-family-184800986.html

[Honeycombe8]

1. Maybe it was because they're not married. If you're not married, you could say it doesn't qualify

for the family rate.

The question is...did they refuse to allow the people to join individually? That would determine discrimination, I think.

[cynatnite]

3. They did not refuse. They allowed them to join and then changed their minds. n/t

[Honeycombe8]

9. That's a refusal. When they found out they're not married? nt

[CurtEastPoint]

2. I just read their membership stuff online. Unless they changed it just recently...

it sounds like the guys could get a household membership. THere is NOT a 'family' memberhsip option. Read this (and by NO MEANS am I defending that club)"

Household Membership

A household consists of a primary member and up to one additional household member that permanently lives in the household, and any of their dependent children under the age of 22 who also reside in the household on a permanent basis.

http://www.carilionfitness.com/membership/membership_types.html

[FreeState]

6. That was just added in response to this n/t

[tammywammy]

7. They changed from family to household

http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/311192

In wake of lawsuit, RAC, BAC change policies to allow same-sex families

Roanoke and Botetourt Athletic Clubs are changing their membership guidelines to give same-sex partners and their children full access to the facilities, according to a message posted this afternoon on the Facebook page for Carilion Clinic, which owns the clubs.

“We are pleased to announce that we have expanded our Family Membership into a new Household Membership,” wrote Bud Grey, who oversees Carilion's wellness and fitness programs. “A household consists of a primary member and up to one additional household member that permanently lives in the household, and any of their dependent children under the age of 22 who also reside in the household on a permanent basis."

The announcement comes a little over a week after a local real estate agent, Will Trinkle, and his partner filed suit against the RAC and Carilion, claiming they applied for a family membership that was accepted and later withdrawn.
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[cynatnite]

8. Good. Thanks. n/t

[orpupilofnature57]

4. Stepford Folk

[RKP5637]

5. More BS by the authoritarians. Reminds me of my childhood decades ago

when in school we had to sit boy-girl-boy-girl ... Somehow the tally used to end up equal, I always wondered as a very tiny kid, WTF is this all about, what BS. Why can't I sit where I want to sit.