A top executive at Baylor Health Care System suggested today that the company plans to fight a charge of anti-gay discrimination, rather than reversing a policy that prohibits same-sex couples from purchasing family memberships at the Tom Landry Fitness Center.
Steven Johnson filed a complaint last week under Dallas’ nondiscrimination ordinance against the Tom Landry Fitness Center, after the Health Care System-owned gym refused to allow him to sign up his partner of 23 years as a family member. In response to an Instant Tea post Monday about Johnson’s complaint, the Health Care System’s senior vice president for consumer affairs sent an e-mail to Dallas Voice today.
“John, saw your story about Mr. Johnson’s complaint,” Jennifer Coleman said in the e-mail. “There is now a significant amount of legal discussion about what the ordinance covers, and our attorneys are involved. It will be a while before it is all sorted out. I will update you when I have something I can discuss.”
My response to Coleman’s e-mail was as follows:
“So in other words Baylor is fighting the complaint on legal grounds rather than just changing the policy? Wouldn’t that be a much easier solution? It seems like this situation can only get worse from a PR standpoint for Baylor.”
As I’ve said previously, there is some question about whether the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance prohibits discrimination based on marital status. The ordinance prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations.
I would argue that because gay and lesbian couples can’t legally marry in Texas, discrimination based on marital status is discrimination based on sexual orientation. But in the past the city has taken the opposite position, upholding a landlord’s right to refuse to rent to unmarried (gay) couples.
But my real point is this: Regardless of the legal outcome of the complaint, Baylor loses.
Excerpts from my comment on the earlier article:
If the folks at Baylor cared the least bit about doing the right thing or the PR firestorm this has created, then they would have done the right thing from the get go. It shouldn’t take someone calling the senior officers and directors [at Baylor] to get them to act in a morally and ethically responsible manner. The bottom line is that they simply just don’t care. And if/when this case moves forward (which I hope it does, and I hope the “Baylor Bastards” pay dearly for what they are doing), they will most likely dig in their heels, lift their elongated, gold plated “Pinocchio” noses in the air and insist that they did the right thing, regardless. And if they piss off some of their members and lose business in the process, they will simply chalk it up as a cost of doing business. Their whole reaction so far literally screams “WE DON’T CARE AND NOBODY’S GOING TO MAKE US CARE!” And when callous, insensitive people like the folks at Baylor demonstrate, clearly and unequivocally, that they truly don’t care (which is exactly what they have done), then nothing–not even a conversation with the top brass–is going to change that. So if you REALLY want to call someone who cares, don’t waste your time calling Baylor. (They would probably make black people sit in the back of the bus if they thought they could get away with it. That’s the mentality of these people.) Instead, channel your energy into something more constructive, like encouraging the city to pursue the charges that have been filed against Baylor. Perhaps a news crew on their front door steps asking for a comment might be enlightening…
The Downtown Y is full of Baptists, but they are smart enough to offer family memberships to gay couples. I guess Ken Starr is calling the shots at Baylor now.
John I’m gonna agree with you. Whether it’s discrimination based on sexual orientation or marital status, it’s still bloody discrimination. Baylor is probably gonna spin this into two whiny queens trying to impose their definition of “family” on their business. They are gonna use the defense of traditional family strategy. I hope they find other incidents of marital status discrimination (gay and straight couples). This will truly help their case.
Why did the Voice take down all the Baylor execs’ contact info?
@Call the Baptists!: We generally don’t print people’s home addresses or private phone numbers without their consent. If you’d like to repost with business e-mails and phones, feel free.
Below are some helpful telephone numbers at which you can raise your concerns to the high heavens!
OK….. in compliance with Voice policy:
The chief counsel and senior vice president’s name is W. Stephen Boyd.
The office phone number is (214) 820-7465. When you call you’ll get a live person, his assistant, instantly, and they are super interested in knowing the who, what, when, and wheres. This is the first number I recommend calling.
The senior vice president and chief quality officer is named David J. Ballard, who lives in a cushy $1.5 million house. Apparently, from an earlier post, Mr. Ballard’s son or daughter is reading these blogs and objected to a question about Mr. Ballard’s marital status – which seems rather ironic doesn’t it? Anyway… his corporate email is david.ballard@baylorhealth.edu.
Jennifer Coleman’s corporate email is: jennifer.coleman@baylorhealth.edu or jennifco@BaylorHealth.edu – not the bogus gmail account. She is the vice president for consumer affairs and has been the main media contact for this matter. She was recently honored as a “Woman to Watch” at the 2010 Dallas Business Journal Women in Business Luncheon. Indeed… I have a feeling all eyes are on her!
I want to encourage people to call and write! The more attention and heat these executives take, the greater the likelihood that they will deal with the complaints. They hope this will go away. Let’s prove to them that it won’t!
I just posted a link to this story on my Facebook page. If anyone wants to do the same, use the headline “Baylor Bastards”.
Thank you for posting the contact information of Baylor Healthcare’s administrators. I took a guess at Mr. Boyd’s email: stephen.boyd@baylorhealth.edu (?)
I encountered the same problem… left messages with the Chief Councel Stephen Boyd and with the head of the gym membership department Jennifer Ryan. Just moved to East Dallas with my partner of 10 years and I find this policy offensive.
In fact, reading the Baylor Health Care System Code of Ethics (Page 8): “We will create a patient care environment that is free of unlawful discrimination for any reason including race,
sex, age, color, creed, national origin or any other classification protected by law and that is free of harassment,
including sexual harassment.”, it appears Baylor has taken the position it is lawful to descriminate against gay people with respectr to family gym membership. Therefore, I must conclude they also believe it lawful to descriminate against gay people with regard to medical services. Unthinkable in 2011…