Family Memberships that INCLUDE Our Families

Recently, the local YMCA — of which I am a member — has been considering merging with another larger YMCA in the area. One of the stumbling blocks in the talks about merging has been family membership. Why family membership? Because many family memberships, which offer a great discount to cash-strapped families, are based on the idea that a family is one man and one woman, with no variation. I was surprised that there were no other options for my family of two men and children. “Name of wife/mother” and “name of husband/father” were the only blanks offered on the form. After a series of discussions over a period of months, the YMCAs reached a compromise, simply putting the words “parent” where gender language was used before.
My family is not the only one confronted by this legal form of discrimination. The Hands-on Children’s Museum in Jacksonville, Fla. used a similar form that specified that a family was one mom and one dad. There was no space for “partner,” “moms,” or “dads,” let alone a place for aunts, uncles, grandparents, or godparents. If the one mom included the other same-sex partner as a “friend,” there was an additional cost.

More here: http://www.parentsociety.com/todays-family/family-membership-should-include-same-sex-parents/