There are always unforeseen effects of broad policies, and DOMA is certainly no exception. Today Genia at Sisters Talk discovered one of those effects.

As a sidenote, I asked the clerk, “Does the Y allow same-sex domestic partners to take advantage of the family membership?” The clerk responded with, “No. We only allow a mom-and-dad household to use the family membership because that’s what a family is: a mom, a dad, and their children.”

Since Genia is a fabulous lesbian, she took the initiative and called YMCA headquarters and talked to Mike Ace, the Executive Director.

Mr. Ace apologized profusely and stated that he was sure the clerk never intended to offend me and that she was most likely only doing her job. Since the YMCA is federally funded 501(c)(3) organization, they are obligated to define family the way the federal government defines a family. Any federal funds the YMCA receives cannot be used to provide funding to non-traditional families not officially recognized by the federal government.

…at which point we return to DOMA. You guessed it, YMCA policy is governed by the definition found in DOMA. And since DOMA defines the word “marriage” as opposite gendered, the word “family”, as defined by the YMCA, necessarily excludes same gender families. (Note that there is a separate designation for single-parent families as well.)

I did a little math based on the monthly rates published by the YMCA, and the LGBT Penalty is a bit larger than I expected.

A family (mother, father, kids under 21) costs $62/month. For a same-gender family to get the same plan, they would have to apply for Single Parent Family ($50.75/month) and one adult ($41.75/month), totaling $92.50/month with a difference of $30.50 every month.

The LGBT Penalty comes to $366 every year. Just because the parents are of the same gender.

The good news is that Mr. Ace seems to be aware of the issue and working to correct it.

Mr. Ace informed me that even though the federal government does not allow their organization to use federal funds to provide discounted membership rates to same-sex couples, the organization has been discussing various ways to address the issue. One possible solution (and Mr. Ace did not make any promises about this) was to push some of the organization’s private funds over so they can be used to help same-sex couples offset the cost of their membership. Other non-traditional families (like unmarried couples living with children, grandparents raising children, and divorced couples still living together) will also be allowed to use private funds to help offset the cost of their membership.

Mr. Ace made it very clear that this has been an issue the YMCA has been addressing for a little while now. He also stated that all the Executive Directors for Wisconsin YMCAs will be meeting soon and the topic of non-traditional families is on the agenda. His final comment was, “How the YMCA views families is changing, but that change is coming slowly.”

YMCA, that sounds like a good plan until DOMA is repealed. Seriously, haven’t The Gays saved you a FORTUNE in publicity costs?

"It's expensive to stay at the Y-M-C-A!"

h/t to Thomas Waters