Posted on 04/21/2005 10:29:27 AM PDT by SmithL
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - A city commission candidate was criticized for breast-feeding her daughter during a public meeting, so 16 other mothers turned up and nursed their children at another gathering as a show of support.
Gabrielle Redfern apologized for offending anyone, but says she won't stop breast-feeding her child when necessary. She had been criticized by some for breast-feeding her 1-year-old daughter, Elsie, during Mayor David Dermer's recent State of the City address.
"Elsie's been coming to public meetings since she was 2 weeks old," said Redfern, who is in her first bid for public office. "I shouldn't have to choose between being a publicly involved citizen and being a good mother."
On Wednesday, 16 women held a "nurse-in" in support of Redfern, breast-feeding their babies at a Miami Beach Commission meeting.
"How is she supposed to raise her child and have a career if she isn't allowed to breast-feed her child when she attends meetings?" said Ellen Sandoval, who came to show her support. "I quit working because I didn't know or have the courage to do what she is doing."
State law says a woman can breast-feed her child anywhere she is otherwise legally allowed to be. But even in a city where topless sunbathing is common, others say there should be limits.
"I think it's a beautiful and natural thing, but there's a time and a place for it," said Joe Fontana, who regularly attends community meetings. "It's distracting. Why inside? Why not step outside to do it?"
"If women can breastfeed in public, or at restaurants while you're eating as she happens to be in the table next to you, men can pee in public."
Absoloutely. A woman can whip out her breast in public to use it for nature's purposes and they tell me I can't go whizz behind a tree? Hardly fair.
I know... I can't really say how long I would or not since I'm not a mom, but it I know that few continue to breastfeed very long. My friend didn't, mostly because she knew she'd soon be going back to work a couple days a week, found pumping too painful, and so she couldn't remain the only one who could feed baby. Another friend didn't like that she'd start to leak whenever she heard a baby cry anywhere ;~D
:P
Amen!
My bad, cirrhosis. Didn't have time to like up the proper spelling, at work on the phone with insurance companies.
really ?
Honestly, I've never seen urine kill a patch of grass.
Not me: I'm into cheap thrills, so I'm looking pretty closely.
Heh... I just had no idea what you were tryin' to say!
Breast-feeding wins, personal freedom loses
Let me begin this way: I’m all in favor of mothers breast-feeding their babies. There is considerable evidence documenting the benefits of the practice. I believe mothers should breast-feed babies if at all possible.
Having said that, I think a new Illinois law that permits women to nurse anywhere they like is unwise.
It’s the latest example of a trend we increasingly see. If anyone does something that you find disagreeable, you don’t have to accept it. You don’t even have to try to persuade them to change their mind. What you do is run to the government and have a law passed to make people do what you think they should.
In this case, according to Sunday’s Chicago Tribune, the aggrieved party was a LaGrange woman. Last year when she was in a health club, a manager asked her to not beast-feed in the day-care area because other customers may have found it offensive. Two alternative areas were suggested, but neither was satisfactory to the nursing mother.
Now if I go into a business and don’t like its policies, I can do one of three things. I can try to get the company to change the offending rule. If that fails, I can choose to just accept the policy and grumble to myself as necessary for my mental health.
The last alternative is to stop patronizing that business. If the company’s rule is that distasteful and the dispute can’t be settled another way, that’s a right we all have.
The LaGrange woman took a different approach. The Tribune reports she contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, Governor Blagojevich and several state legislators.
I don’t know if she got much help from the ACLU. That organization is usually busy protecting the interests of atheists, rapists, murderers and child molesters.
The woman also wrote to the governor’s wife, Patti. This is remarkable. Last time I checked, the governor’s wife wasn’t listed anywhere on the organization chart of those responsible for changing laws.
Anyway, the universally acclaimed result of these contacts is that on Monday Gov. Rod — I wonder what his real first name is — Blagojevich signed a law allowing women to breast-feed wherever they want. In a move sure to please trial lawyers, women can take to court any business or agency that tries to keep them from nursing.
And so Illinois joins the pack. In the past decade more than 20 states have approved similar legislation. On the Federal level, there has even been legislation introduced that would include breast-feeding mothers under the Civil Rights Act.
Breast-feeding in public is slightly controversial. Some adults are uncomfortable seeing a woman nurse her baby, even if done with discretion and modesty. Apparently it’s not always done that way. Last November in Kansas, according to the Lawrence Journal-World, a man complained that his son had been exposed to a woman’s “parts” by nursing her nine-month old in a fitness center.
So you have individuals on both sides of the issue, an issue of less than paramount importance to the general public and one on which reasonable people can honestly differ. If there were ever a controversy crying out for the heavy hand of government to not get involved, this is it. Yet Rod and/or Patti decided another law is necessary. I have a modest proposal on how to settle disagreements such as these. I know it’ll sound extreme, principally to our purported leaders, but here goes:
Why not let the individual business determine what its policy on matters like this will be?
Sure, I realize that’s an out-of-date, seemingly unrealistic resolution to some folks. Yet it’s the way we operated in this country for most of our history.
The owner of property, whether it’s a health club, a coffee shop, a business or an apartment, has the right to do with it as he or she sees fit unless there is some compelling public implication.
The owner establishes the rules. If a patron doesn’t like them, he or she has the right to patronize another place. No rights have been lost.
That’s not the case when government clumsily meddles with free enterprise. If the state needlessly mandates how a business will be run, the owner’s rights have been violated.
The breast-feeding law won’t be viewed as a major loss of anyone’s liberties. It’s yet more chipping away, little by little. Many times, however, that’s precisely how rights are surrendered. One day we’ll wonder where they all went.
I think its cause I'm talking to some guy named Sirhan.
Heh... well, more power to ya. After all, I'm told men think about sex every thirty seconds anyway, I hardly think unexpectedly seeing what might be a boob under a nursing cloth will make you less functional than you usually are ;~D
Do these laws state WHO they can breastfeed? Or do they just say they can breastfeed, period. Can you imagine if some sick couple decided to screw around with the laws?
First name or last name? If it's both, I don't think I'd sell him insurance.
That explains your tagline.
Holy crap, I didn't think about that.
CORRECTION: That explains your screen name.
Heh...
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