Posted on 08/18/2010 7:32:36 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
A Manhattan mom is suing a midtown chocolate wonderland that she says barred her for breast-feeding her 5-month-old daughter, Jordan, at the cafe.
Julia Acevedo-Taylor's suit targets Lily O'Brien's Chocolate Cafe for her Aug. 17, 2009, expulsion from the W.40th St. sweets emporium, where she and a friend were nursing their "hungry and tired" babies.
"They were being as discreet as possible," said Adam Polo, a lawyer for Acevedo-Taylor. "It wasn't one of those things where they were wide open."
The Manhattan Supreme Court suit says a manager approached Acevedo-Taylor and friend Latasha Augustoplos and ordered the lactating ladies to "stop doing that."
When they politely declined, the suit says, they were told to "leave and never come back."
"She didn't stop because she knew she was within her rights to do this," said Polo, adding, "there was no nipple showing."
Acevedo-Taylor fled the store in tears, according to the suit, and was so traumatized she can no longer nurse in public.
Owner Cathal Queally disputed Acevedo-Taylor's account, saying the store's general manager asked one of them if they could cover up only after two other customers complained.
"Nobody was ever asked to leave," he said.
Visitors to the cafe are greeted by a small pink sign that reads "breast-feeding welcome here" and "beautiful breast-feeding."
"I'm all for breast-feeding," Queally said.
Lily O'Brien's isn't the first business snared in a breast-feeding brouhaha. The Toys "R" Us in Times Square faced protests in 2006 after a woman got a hard time for nursing her infant.
Women at the cafe came down on both sides of the blowup over breast-feeding.
"There's a time and place to whip our your boob," said Sheri Lowe, 31, a Brooklyn teacher. "If you're at a strip club, do it."
Montana mom Claire Baiz, 53, said she breast-fed her kids until they were 2: "I'm a big advocate for breast-feeding - that's what these are for," she said, pointing to her chest.
Discrete is fine. In my face is not.
“NO OUTSIDE FOOD.”
The cafe is privately owned, yes? It is not a park. It is not financed with taxpayer dollars. Management has the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason, or no reason at all, and to ask any person to leave at any time. There is no fundamental right to other people’s property or services, as this woman and those like her would have us believe.
It’s their shop and they should be entitled to kick out anyone they want.
This goes back to no smoking rules, no trand fats etc. In NY especially, shops and restaurants will soon have no control over their own business.
I have no problem with the complaint... but I do have a problem with the mother being insane and like you said about exaggerating.
My sister used to breastfed in public all the time, but she had a towel. I saw a young mother, about 19, breastfed her child on the metro. She just lifted her shirt.
Whatever happened to just not going back into that store again? Too many people are sue happy these days. There isn’t a damned thing wrong with a mother breastfeeding her baby. In public or anywhere else.
But there should be no lawsuit.
As well as the jury, we hope.
I thought the rule was if you did not have enough for everyone you had to leave it at home. ;)
“These types remind me of the militant femi-Nazis I deal with in ‘The People’s Republik of Madistan.’”
Femi-Nazi’s murder their children in the womb.
I wish more people understood that.
LOL!
I guess lifing your shirt is different than having a blouse designed for discreet breastfeeding.
That said, it does make me a bit uncomfortable but it is what it is.
My son was born in Sweden and my wife breastfed him until he was more than 18 months.
There, it is just a natural thing to do. Here, everyone gawks and whispers and makes faces. No matter how covered up mother and child are.
Americans are just hung up on it. I prefer the natural, calm point of view.
“You start acting like you are trying to exaggerate damages to get the big cash payoff, and you lose me.”
Exactly.
I could have only lifted my shirt, although I also put a blanket over Baby’s head. If you lift shirt from your middle, instead of from the side where Baby is at, then it covers you much better.
Some babe’s won’t tolerate anything over their head, although my personal opinion is that is a learned behavior, or one that could be curbed.
When in Sweden, act like a Swede. When in America...get riled up about it and file false charges for big money against a business owner. :)
It goes back to laws against denying service or association based on race. Whatever one thinks about the rightness of such laws, they are the template for every other invasion into the practices of private individuals and private businesses.
I think these women are exhibitionists.
It’s like ‘look at me..I’m an earth mother..I’m a WOMAN..I got big boobs’.
Use common sense and a little dignity.
Feed the baby in private. This is offensive to a lot of people.
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