Texas YMCA Relents, Offers 'Household' Membership to Lesbian Moms

After more than 8,000 people signed a Change.org petition asking the local YMCA in Tyler, Texas, to extend its family membership rate to two lesbian moms and their sons, the YMCA announced it would do so, reportsThinkProgress LGBT.

Despite the fact that the YMCA offered Suzy Sheridan, her wife, and their son the family rate ten years ago when their son was on the Y's swim team, the Y has now renamed its "family membership" to a "household membership." As Zack Ford at ThinkProgress points out, that implies that not all households are families, but at least the policy is inclusive now.

When they initially requested a membership last month, Sheridan says an employee told her that she and her wife must produce a marriage certificate to be eligible for the family membership rate. When Sheridan pointed out that she would be unable to do so, since Texas doesn't recognize same-sex marriages, the employee reportedly told Sheridan that the her family was ineligible for the reduced rate because they were not a "traditional family." 

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