- Steven Johnson was denied a family membership for his partner of 23 years
I finally got ahold of Jennifer Coleman, the Baylor Health Care System’s senior vice president for consumer affairs, to talk about the Tom Landry Fitness Center’s policy barring gays and lesbians from signing up their domestic partners as family members.
As I reported in today’s Voice, the Health Care System-owned Fitness Center refused to allow a gay couple of 23 years to sign up for a family membership earlier this week. This is a possible violation of the city of Dallas’ nondiscrimination ordinance, and the couple is calling on the LGBT community to boycott the 7,000-member gym. (Most members are among the system’s 15,000 employees.)
Coleman said she just learned about the situation this morning.
“Were going to look and see about that policy, what it says, and then I’m not sure what we’re going to do next,” Coleman said. “I can’t commit to changing it, because that’s not a decision for me to make, but something for us to look into. It’s unfortunate that this thing came up this way, but I can commit [that] we’ll sure look into it.”
I explained to Coleman that most Fortune 500 corporations (59 percent) now offer domestic partner benefits. I also told her that LGBT people make up a disproportionate share of gym customers, so it probably doesn’t make good business sense to discriminate against us.
“We want to see what other clubs are doing, how they handle it,” she said.
She mentioned the possibility of abuses if people aren’t required to be married to obtain family memberships. But I told her the gym could require some other type of proof, such as a domestic partner registration.
“It sounds like it could be done simply, but we really want to spend a little time and look into it,” she said. “I’m still trying to get my hands on this policy or whatever precedent we have been using to see what it says.”
Coleman noted that the Health Care System is no longer legally affiliated with Baylor University, the Baptist school in Waco.
She also insisted that the hospital doesn’t discriminate against LGBT people when it comes to visitation.
But the nonprofit Health Care System obviously still has strong religious roots, and Coleman confirmed that its nondiscrimination policy doesn’t include sexual orientation.
To me, it’s unthinkable that such a major employer in a city like Dallas still lacks the most basic protections for gay and lesbian workers.
And so I guess the gym issue is just the tip of the iceberg.
From personal experience (as a gay man), this is an accurate statement from Ms. Coleman:
“She also insisted that the hospital doesn’t discriminate against LGBT people when it comes to visitation.”
My husband was in Baylor for a week. The staff was very good to me and treated me with the upmost respect. I was able to sleep in his room every night until he was discharged and I was able to make immediate decisions concerning his care.
I don’t think there is an “iceberg”. This is about a gym membership.
More Heterosexual douchebaggery at its finest!
@GLK: The tip of the iceberg statement was in reference to the nondiscrimination policy, not visitation.
The research for this article is atrocious! Baylor’s Jennifer Coleman is giving only a partial explanation of the Hospitals religious affiliations. She is correct that there is no association between the hospital and Baylor University. However, a very small amount of research would reveal that they are associated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
If you go to the bgct.org’s website and click on the “medical center” link it list’s Baylor Medical Center as one of their hospitals. Then if you go to the baylorhealth.com website and search “baptist general convention” a link will be provided for a newsletter called the Torch which is for the Baylor Foundation and it lists the BGCT as a financial contributor to the medical center.
Make no mistake Baylor Medical Center is a Baptist institution. They list themselves as a faith based organization, associated with BGCT, host meetings at the medical center for the BGCT, plus the Dallas Theological Seminary and the headquarters of the BGCT are next to the medical center’s campus.
I’ll bet good money that the policy at the Fitness Center stays as it is and Domestic Partner benefits will never see the light of day at this facility.
Very sloppy reporting.
I don’t think it’s sloppy reporting at all. The author simply reported on the results of his interview with the spokesperson. This snipet is not, nor was it intended to be an all-inclusive documentary. It’s a developing story, being reported as facts become available. If you think the reporting is sloppy then go do your own research and write your own story, and let the readers decide what’s “sloppy”. What *is* sloppy is your comment. Improper punctuation, improper use of apostrophe and capital letters in the middle of sentences…now THAT is sloppy.
The great accomplishments of man have resulted from the transmission of ideas of enthusiasm.
What are the chances that Dr’s, administrators and their loved ones enjoy full use of the gym, and the gym has received indirect pressure to ‘keep this a family place, I don’t want my kids walking in on two men embracing in the gym.’ Sounds silly, but a gym manager takes that side comment from someone high up in the staff and tries his best to keep them happy. Its the subtle discrimination that we never see that gets us every time.
My girlfriend and I are not able to sign up under the family plan at my gym even though we’ve been living together for 5 years.