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Law Director: Natatorium not required to offer discount to same-sex couple, but Park Board has discretion on issue

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Phil Keren
February 8, 2012

The Cuyahoga Falls City Law Director has told City Council that while the Natatorium is not required to offer a discount membership to people in a same-sex marriage, the Park and Recreation Board is allowed to offer such a discount if it wishes to do so.
“The Natatorium is not required to offer its ‘spouse’ discount membership rate to members who are in a same-sex marriage,” Law Director Paul A. Janis wrote in a legal opinion delivered to Falls City Council this morning. “These members are not in a ‘marriage’ as the term is defined in the Ohio Constitution. The Park and Recreation Board is not required to alter Natatorium membership categories to accommodate the fact that same-sex marriage is legal in other jurisdictions.”
But, Janis also wrote, the Park Board “has broad authority to alter Natatorium membership categories to provide discounts to same-sex couples or other members in non-traditional or alternative relationships, if it wishes to do so.”
City Council can repeal the Park Board’s authority to revise membership categories and set up the Natatorium’s membership categories themselves, he added.
City Council President Mark Ihasz (D-4) had asked Janis to render a legal opinion on whether the city has the authority to establish its own policy regarding what constitutes a family in terms of membership at the Natatorium.
Ihasz made the request after he and many Council colleagues said they were inundated with emails on the subject. The emails arrived after an Akron couple created an online petition, demanding the Natatorium allow gay married couples to receive a family membership.
Shane May says he and his husband of three months, Coty May, visited the Natatorium in January with the intention of changing their individual memberships into a family membership. The pair, who were married in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 28, have belonged to the facility as individuals for two years.
Shane says he wants to be recognized as Coty’s spouse and also to receive spousal and military discounts. Both Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don L. Robart and a spokesperson for the Natatorium have told the Falls News-Press that the pair are welcome there, but do not qualify for membership as a married couple.
For more, see the Feb. 12 edition of the Cuyahoga Falls News-Press.




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2.
    Posted by MicheleMarie February 8, 2012
And so it begins: There is nothing sadder then a judicial system that is wishy-washy. Now the ball bounces back to the Nat. Make them look like the bad guys if they still say no. Then a lawsuit will undoubtedly be filed, and back and forth we go.

I am not gay. I'm not even married. I'm not God. But stop and think for a second: They are domestic partners, and tax payers. They are only asking for a break on dues to work out, not to have relations there. Family is family and all should be recognized. Make an amendment and let's work together toward resolutions rather then taking sides with anger.

1.
    Posted by Patty Worrells February 8, 2012
I say LET'S BOYCOTT THE NAT until they offer family discounts to ALL FAMILIES! Let's try to take some of the hate from Shane and his husband. Let's rally around them like they have never felt before. And, by the way, it's time TO GET A NEW MAYOR!! My LESBIAN partner of 11 years and I say YES to all of the above! Will you join us?

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