Couple urges Yorkville School Board to reinstate ban against martial arts business

A Yorkville couple is urging District 115 school officials to reinstate a ban on a local martial arts studio because they say they were told by a studio official their daughter was not welcome because they are gay.

Almost 100 people showed up to support Chad Konow-Muri and his spouse, Craig Konow-Muri, at a school board meeting May 22 and asked the board to reinstate a year-old decision to keep BH Martial Arts Studio from using school district property for its programs.

But BH Martial Arts manager Geri Benning strongly denied that the business discriminates against anyone when contacted Tuesday.

“This is a really unfortunate situation that happened years ago that has snowballed into this awful lie,” Benning said, addressing the accusations.

In response to the controversy, District 115 issued the following statement late Tuesday afternoon: “Discrimination allegations pertaining to a local business (BH Martial Arts) were brought to the district by parents who shared that their child was excluded from participation in one of the business’ programs due to the child’s non-traditional family. After speaking with the business, it was determined that absent additional information, a concern existed regarding the parents’ claim. Pending further review, the district suspended the business’ use of district facilities.”

The statement continues: “Recently, the district brought both parties together for discussion and to further review the situation. The additional information obtained resulted in the district simply not being in a position to conclusively resolve the disputed facts from 2014 concerning whether the company discriminated against a child. Therefore, the suspension was lifted, with the business agreeing to adhere to specific stipulations set forth by the school district.”

The statement added: “As in many cases involving students, the full details of an issue are not or cannot be released publicly. Unfortunately, resulting presumptions are often incomplete and not based on a full understanding of the facts and details.”

According to the Konow-Muris, the situation began in 2014 when they first moved to Yorkville. On their second day in town, they brought their then-4-year-old daughter to BH Martial Arts, 664 W. Veterans Parkway, to register for lessons but they allege they were told that their daughter would not be welcome. The studio offers instruction in tae kwon do, hapkido and self-defense.

After the Konow-Muris shared their discrimination concerns with school administrators, the school district suspended its contract with the studio.

“We thought everything was fine until we got an email (from the school district) this April asking us to revisit the situation,” Chad said.

The couple agreed to the meeting, and walked out afterward confident that they had pleaded enough of a case to warrant the continuation of the suspension.

“Our family fought for, and succeeded in providing the school district with sufficient evidence to lead to the suspension previously ...” Chad said. “Now, less than one year later, the suspension has been lifted. Our family has been offered no sincere apology from BH Martial Arts, who now claim that the question of our family structure never came up.”

The couple, along with several other speakers at the May 22 board meeting, implored the board to take a closer look at the situation and to reinstate the contract suspension.

Benning, however, said Tuesday the studio has created a new mission statement which has been signed by each student and parent making them aware of the studio’s zero-tolerance discrimination policy – though she maintains that the Konow-Muris were never discriminated against from the start.

Benning said she does remember the couple coming in with their daughter in 2014, but said the Studio Master, Baek K. Lee, was unaware of the couple’s same-sex marriage during the encounter.

“He honestly thought it was a little girl and her father and grandfather,” Benning said of Lee. “He had no idea there was anymore to it than a blood relation.”

Benning said that things got heated when Lee questioned why the couple was taking their daughter out of karate (which she had been practicing already) and enrolling her in tae kwon do.

“There were immediate fireworks and insults and claims that we were discriminating against them,” Benning said. “I tried to tell them that they misunderstood (the Master, Lee), but they left in a storm.”

Benning said the girl was never asked who her parents were, and mentioned that at least one student who attends the studio comes from a similar home situation.

“We’ve been in business for 10 years and have never had a charge like this brought against us,” she said. “This has culminated into a huge lie. No one else was there that day. It’s our story against theirs.”

Benning said that following last year’s suspension, the district reached out to the studio to try and resolve the issue.

“The school board asked for a meeting with the gentlemen, the Master (Lee) and I. We were completely cleared of all (accusations),” she said.

“We’re trying to make it better. We’re trying to resolve things,” Benning said. “Unfortunately these accusations have been brought against us and we’re trying to do what we can to prove we don’t discriminate. We’re trying to resolve the issues for the future.”

BH Martial Arts is now allowed to conduct business on school district property, but must stay out of any school the Konow-Muris’ daughter is attending.

For the Konow-Muris, this resolution isn’t good enough.

“So, they will successfully provide (my daughter) with a safe environment, but if they say they understand that there is a need to keep (the studio) away from one child, why not extend that to provide a safe environment for all children?” Chad asked.

Wearing a white “Hate Has No Home Here” T-shirt, Chad spoke during Monday’s school board meeting, surrounded by a sea of supporters also wearing white.

“The halls of our school are covered in posters that tell our children to stand up to bullies, to celebrate diversity and to accept others,” he said. “If we tell our children to do those things, shouldn’t we as parents, you as board members and district staff also demonstrate those commitments?”

School board president Dr. Lynn Burks thanked everyone for attending the May 22 meeting and added, “We do realize as a board that there was a letter communicated with the family. We want to emphasize the fact that we do not talk about any specific child in public and we never would because of confidentiality. We encourage both parents to talk to the board collectively in a closed session where confidentiality can be protected. We would really appreciate if you did that. We will clearly take suggestions and comments into consideration.”