Lesbian couples claim discrimination by YMCA and health center

Two lesbian couples, one in Lansing and the other in Grand Rapids, are claiming two major social institutions discriminated against them.

Sarah Himes and her partner, Cate, whose last name has not been released, tried to sign up for a family membership rate at the Parkwood YMCA in Okemos. While the organization has the motto: “We build strong kids, strong families, strong communities,” Himes and her partner were not in that definition of family. The Y was more than willing to accept the $49-per-month fee for a regular membership from each of the women, but refused to give them the $19 rate for family members.

Undeterred, the couple dashed to the downtown Lansing branch of the Y where they were allowed to file the application and pay the family rate. That family rate was promptly revoked when Associate Executive Director Ben Wheeler saw what was happening. According to the couple, Wheeler told them it was improper for the staff member to allow the couple a family rate, and he would retrain the staff to make sure such a mistake was never made again.

Between The Lines, the statewide gay newspaper for Michigan, and Michigan Messenger left repeated messages for Lansing area YMCA Executive Director Tony Fragale. No phone calls were returned.

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However, Fragale had spoken with the Lansing Association for Human Rights, as well as the Lansing State Journal.

“We don’t get into personal relationships — we stay out of that,” LAHR board member Nancy English reported Fragale as saying. “You choose to follow the definition. It’s the best way for us to stay consistent.”

According to the LAHR story, Fragale clarified that family was composed of people “legally related and living together.”

Fragale told Lansing State Journal reporter John Schneider the same thing. In response to Schneider’s column, Lansing resident John Roche wrote, “the YMCA’s policy (June 18) is not at all surprising. After all, they are the Young Men’s CHRISTIAN Association. The Christian religion has a long history of discrimination against, and persecution of, gay and lesbian people. I suggest that your source cancel her membership at the ‘Y’ and join the MAC or GoWorkout, both of which have friendlier policies.”

In Grand Rapids, Ashleigh Haberman and Erica Schaub went to Spectrum Health South Pavilion in Cutterville to seek treatment for Schaub’s lingering cold. What they got instead, they said, was a lecture from the doctor about their relationship. The two women were married in Ontario, Canada.

The doctor asked Haberman who she was in relation to Schaub, the women said. And when Haberman told the doctor they were “life partners,” they allege he launched into a lecture about gay marriage.

“She didn’t even have that out of her mouth before he said, `So, what do you guys feel about your ruling in California?’” Haberman recalled in an article in the Grand Rapids Press. “As soon as he looked at us, he knew we were gay, and he was looking for an opportunity to start that conversation.”

The doctor, the couple said, then allegedly said gay marriage “shouldn’t be called marriage” because it is a religious-based word and, as a Christian, he did not consider gay marriage legal.

Spectrum Health has released press statements claiming they expected doctors to act “professionally.”

Meanwhile, Gary Glenn from the American Family Association of Michigan, put out a press release praising the doctor.

“First, we commend the physician for telling these two women the simple truth, that under God’s law as well as the laws and constitution of the state of Michigan, marriage is in fact only between one man and one woman, regardless of what activist judges in some other country or state have to say about it,” Glenn said in a press release on his Web site.

Triangle Foundation, a Detroit-based gay rights and anti-violence group, is working with the women, the Grand Rapids Human Relations Committee and Spectrum Health to address the problem.