An Open Letter to American Family Fitness
Ms. Wood,
I am a long time member of American Family Fitness. That is, until yesterday. I canceled my membership because it is more affordable for me to join another gym in the Richmond area. This would not be the case if I were able to have a family membership.
I am married. I was legally married in California in August of this year. My marriage is honored in California, Massachusetts and New York. Also, lots of private companies (including many in Richmond) honor my marriage. My partner works for one such company. She carries my health insurance coverage under their domestic partner benefits plan. I have been with my partner for seven years and I am very happy to be married now. As you may have discerned, ours is a same-sex marriage.
We asked years ago when we joined American Family Fitness if our domestic partnership would be honored for family membership and we were told that it could not be because we had no proof - such as a marriage license - of our relationship. What would keep anybody from requesting a family membership? was the argument.
Clearly, this was a no win argument for me so the conversation effectively ended. Your employee, I believe her name was Michelle, was polite enough so my partner and I opted to join separately. Although we have always seen this as unfair, we have until now had no real way to show proof that we are truly a family.
Now we do. We have a marriage license. Will you honor it?
Sincerely, Karen XXXX
(**Here is American Family Fitness' email contact information - if you're interested in telling them what you think. I sent this just now and I have my fingers crossed. We'll see.)
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22 comments:
That is awesome... I'm so glad you said something!
Good luck!
You go girl....
Give em hell Karen...
Tina and Paula - Thanks, you guys. I'm really, really hoping for the best. We'll see.
If they cared they should have recognized the two of you as a family from the get go - regardless of a silly piece of paper.
I was covered under M's domestic coverage (at a large local teal coloured employer...) until the passage of the poorly written Amendment 1 a couple of years ago. These people were so scared of gay marriage that they wrote a law so broad it affected everyone. On the advice of our attorney we ended up getting married to protect our rights and those of little Finn. It's sad when religious zealots use legislative means to force people, gay or straight, to conform with their petty little superstition.
Sorry for the rant. I'm going to go have another glass of wine now. :)
BP, Thanks for commenting and I can totally appreciate where you are coming from. I was never all about getting married. To be perfectly honest, I think it's a totally outdated construct and the government (state or federal) should have no say in it whatsoever for taxes or otherwise. I think it should be a personal, perhaps religious ceremony if the two involved want that. Marriage is all about trust and committment. No sheet of paper will ever guarentee that. No matter how many laws they build around it. There's my rant. But with the way society is set up - without that little piece of paper - I find that I'm all too often on the outside looking in. Now even with it I still am. Such silliness.
If they were a smart business, they would leave the politics aside and honor your family membership regardless of your sexual orientation. Not only does it sound like homophobia, but also bad business practice. Good for you for canceling your membership - I think a lot of businessses will soon learn that they can't have their cake and eat it too. It makes a lot of sense, from a business standpoint, to recognize domestic partnerships and I think you should make it VERY clear to American "Family" Fitness that this is the reason why you left.
Ugh, this just makes me so frustrated.
Did you email everyone on that list for someone specific?
Dear Thomas are you an educated idiot *it says Ms. Wood*. Get a clue. Thank you K, answered my own question. Considers emailing OTHERS.
Renee, Yeah. There is a little more to the story which I opted to leave out in the interest of fairness, but the truth of the matter is that I'm relatively certain there'll be no answer to my letter. I'm relatively certain that there is a distinct air of homophobia in all the workings of that company. And it stinks.
Thomas, Thanks if you've taken the time to do that. I think they live in their own little bitty world there. No response yet. I'm trying really hard not to be indignant, but I think I'm losing that battle, too.
Oh .... you know me.
Good for you for sending that! Curious what, if anything, you hear back.
Thomas, Thanks so much for taking the time out to write that letter. I really appreciate it. It's good for them to have to consider such things even if they don't budge.
Sassy, We'll see. I still have my fingers crossed. I'll be the first one to set the record straight if they turn out to be fair and inclusive. (But I'm not holding my breath.)
The "marriage" amendment sucks. This red state sucks. Let's hope it all changes in a month, eh?
My wife was an AmFamFit member, but we moved far enough away (and closer to another gym) that it made sense to close out her membership. The front desk person would not let her close our her account and pay off the term; she had to come in THE LAST DAY and do it. When she did, they said she had to do it a week before, and she got charged an additional month. They do not understand good business sense there.
Of course, your issue is a little larger. I'm married eight years myself, so welcome to the club... 'bout time!
Thanks, Tom :o) I appreciate your comment and I completely share your sentiments! On all counts.
I really hope they grant your request. :)
-B
Thanks, Brie. Me, too.
In June Debbie was diagnosed with breast cancer and because Norfolk is our closest major metro center we have been driving up there for her treatment... but yesterday we just decided trying to deal with this in the state of Virgina was just too exhausting for us, the homophobia was rampant, and beginning next week are going to have to make the 3 hour drive to Duke in Durham...
It is not easy being gay in your state girl.
Paula - First, I'm so very sorry that you guys are going through this. The last thing you need is to have to deal with homophobia on top of it all. I have to agree with you. Virginia is dreadfully homophobic in general. What I also notice is that people who are from Virginia don't seem to really know the difference and that's sad. Don't get me wrong. I've met some super great foks here. Unfortunately, they are few and far between compared to what I'm used to. I'm from Memphis, Tenne-effing-see and it was not nearly this homophobic. Not nearly! I had no idea it would be this way when I moved here, but then I met Joanne and one thing led to another and here I am. The problem for us is that #1 I'm still in school and #2 We own our house and the economy here is truly thriving and we are making really good money compared to our cost of living. Once I graduate, though, we are in agreement that even if it means a budget crunch we are moving. Hopefully the advanced degree will mean that I don't have to take a pay cut. Anyway, we are definitely on the short term plan here. Three years max barring a tragedy of some sort.
You can make change by writing a few simple emails.
Brian Evans, the CEO & President of Richmond Fitness, Inc., the actually entity dba'ing as American Family Fitness keeps a very low profile. However, he was named this year to the board of Special Olympics Virginia. His email address is bevans@amfamfit.com.
They have a PR department (hired pen most likely). They get their panties in a wad if you start some kind of campaign against them. Viral is best.
* Dignity-Integrity/Richmond
P.O. Box 5207
Richmond, VA 23220-0270
* Equality Virginia
6 North 6th St., Suite 401
Richmond, VA 23219
804 643 4816
http://www.equalityvirginia.org
Updated 31 May 2005
* PFLAG Richmond
PO Box 36392
Richmond, VA 23235-8008
804 751 5167
pflagric@pflagrichmond.com
http://www.pflagrichmond.com
Added 30 May 2005
* Richmond Organization for Sexual Minority Youth
P O Box 5542
Richmond, VA 23220
804 644 4800
804 644 4390 (Youth Support Line)
804 644 4368 (Fax)
http://www.rosmy.org
Updated 31 May 2005
* Richmond Pride Coalition
P.O. Box 18514
Richmond, VA 23226
804 353 4133
VAPride99@aol.com
http://www.gayrichmond.com/
Loop in PFLAG - parents always help: pflagrichmondcoordinator@comcast.net
Get these guys with the network started on it: http://www.gayrichmond.com/
A letter/letters to the editor/e-mail campaign and blogging assault perhaps. YOU CAN DO IT! Even if they continue to say no, it's going to HURT THEM because people will know about it.
Hugs, Lori
Lori, Wow. I'm impressed. I'm really impressed! I'm definitely pursuing this.
Yes, wow Lori, you know how to kick sum homophobic ASS.
Karen, those of us in la-la land forget how it is in huge chunks of America. We take so much for granted -- this is a good wake up call.
With all that good info Lori passed, on, you could turn this into your passe-temps....
TD, I'm working on it. I'm definitely working on it.
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