I would never expect to jump a line just because I had a child with me, but I would be flat-out furious if the airlines had refused to return my stroller at the gate. I always planned around having it immediately available to help transport both child and bags, and there is no decent reason that airlines should suddenly stop gate-checking strollers (I think there have been othe threads about this problem). I would complain to both the airline and the airport about the stroller issue - there's no reason to make traveling parents' lives extra-difficult.