Lesbian couple Martha Daas, right, and Shannon Bowman tried to get a family membership at the Mallory Country Club, but were denied. Not enough club members voted to change the bylaws that would allow same-sex couples to get a family membership, they said. Photo of the family on the front porch of their home in Norfolk with Maggie Bowman-Runnells, left, and Oliver Bowman-Daas.

Hampton Roads reports:
Shannon Bowman and Martha Daas can join the Mallory Country Club, but not as a family. That's a problem for the two women, who united in what they consider a wedding more than two years ago, live under the same roof and are raising two children together. As a married couple, they would pay $1,000 to join the club and an annual rate of $630, said Lynn Tiedge, a club member. That's the same amount an individual pays to be in the club in West Ghent, Tiedge said. As Bowman and Daas see it, they are being asked to pay double the rate a married couple pays. Though Virginia law does not allow same-sex couples to wed, the women consider themselves married and would legally marry in the state if they could, they said. READ MORE