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CALL FOR NURSE-IN AT DELTA TICKET COUNTERS NATIONWIDE!!!
this is a national call-out/press release for a nurse-in scheduled for tuesday, nov. 21st. A woman was illegally kicked off a delta airline for breastfeeding her child, and nursing moms around the US are uniting to fight back.
Breastfeeding Rally To Take Place At Airports Nationwide
Nursing mothers and their supporters will be gathering on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 at 10 AM, local time, at Delta airport counters across the country.
Emily Gillette was flying with her husband and 22 month-old daughter, on October 13, 2006 out of Burlington, Vermont on a Delta/Freedom Air flight when a flight attendant asked her to cover up with a blanket. Ms. Gillette declined and informed the flight attendant of her legal right to nurse her daughter. The flight attendant then told Ms. Gillette that Ms. Gillette was offending her and subsequently a gate agent removed the family from the flight. Ms. Gillette and her family complied. They were rescheduled on a different flight the following day.
Ms. Gillette has filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission regarding the incident. A woman’s right to breastfeed wherever she is legally allowed to be is protected in Vermont under the Public Accommodations Act.
Although Delta has issued a public apology, the Gillette family has still not received any personal apology.
The goals of this action are:
Insist that Delta/Freedom both apologize to the Gillette family and
offer written proof that policy and training procedures have been changed.
Call for all airlines to revisit their breastfeeding and transport of pumped breastmilk policies to support traveling families.
Call for immediate passage of pending Federal legislation that offers civil rights protection for breastfeeding women in the workplace; and new legislation to protect, on the Federal level, a nursing mother and child’s right to do so whenever and wherever they are legally allowed to be.
Introduce a new breastfeeding accessibility icon and call on American businesses to adopt and use it. Participants will be wearing the logo on t-shirts, stickers and buttons.
The issue of breastfeeding goes far beyond just a woman’s right to nurse; it also encompasses a basic human right for children, the right to eat and to receive comfort and nurturing at the breast.
The Nurse-Ins have been coordinated completely by volunteers.
for information about the nurse in locally (in the SF bay area), please contact Phoenix at: unicorn.of.doom [at] gmail.com or join the yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lactivism/
Nursing mothers and their supporters will be gathering on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 at 10 AM, local time, at Delta airport counters across the country.
Emily Gillette was flying with her husband and 22 month-old daughter, on October 13, 2006 out of Burlington, Vermont on a Delta/Freedom Air flight when a flight attendant asked her to cover up with a blanket. Ms. Gillette declined and informed the flight attendant of her legal right to nurse her daughter. The flight attendant then told Ms. Gillette that Ms. Gillette was offending her and subsequently a gate agent removed the family from the flight. Ms. Gillette and her family complied. They were rescheduled on a different flight the following day.
Ms. Gillette has filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission regarding the incident. A woman’s right to breastfeed wherever she is legally allowed to be is protected in Vermont under the Public Accommodations Act.
Although Delta has issued a public apology, the Gillette family has still not received any personal apology.
The goals of this action are:
Insist that Delta/Freedom both apologize to the Gillette family and
offer written proof that policy and training procedures have been changed.
Call for all airlines to revisit their breastfeeding and transport of pumped breastmilk policies to support traveling families.
Call for immediate passage of pending Federal legislation that offers civil rights protection for breastfeeding women in the workplace; and new legislation to protect, on the Federal level, a nursing mother and child’s right to do so whenever and wherever they are legally allowed to be.
Introduce a new breastfeeding accessibility icon and call on American businesses to adopt and use it. Participants will be wearing the logo on t-shirts, stickers and buttons.
The issue of breastfeeding goes far beyond just a woman’s right to nurse; it also encompasses a basic human right for children, the right to eat and to receive comfort and nurturing at the breast.
The Nurse-Ins have been coordinated completely by volunteers.
for information about the nurse in locally (in the SF bay area), please contact Phoenix at: unicorn.of.doom [at] gmail.com or join the yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lactivism/
For more information:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lactivism/
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Attendant punished for booting mother
Associated Press
Saturday, November 18, 2006
STORY TOOLS
related linksMore Local
BURLINGTON, Vt. — A commuter airline says it has disciplined a flight attendant who ordered an Española woman and her baby off an airplane preparing for takeoff after the passenger refused to cover her baby with a blanket while breast-feeding.
The attendant did not meet company expectations when Emily Gillette was told to leave the plane at Burlington International Airport for declining a blanket, Freedom Airlines spokesman Paul Skellon said in an e-mail to news outlets Friday. The nature of the discipline was not disclosed.
"We concluded that the flight attendant in question acted contrary to the company's expectations," Skellon wrote. "We believe our disciplinary action was appropriate and was taken after considering all of the facts leading to this incident."
Gillette disagreed with Skellon's contention that the captain of the flight apologized and "immediately requested that they be re-boarded for their flight," which the family refused.
Gillette said Friday the airline "never offered" her a chance to get back on the plane for a Delta Air Lines flight operated by Freedom Airlines on Oct. 13.
"I would have jumped at the opportunity," she said.
Sitting aboard a plane that was three hours late in taking off, Gillette began to breast-feed her 22-month-old daughter. She says a flight attendant handed her a blanket and told her to cover up, which Gillette declined to do. The attendant said Gillette was offending her and she was removed from the plane.
Gillette had a window seat, beside her husband, in the airplane's second-to-last row.
Delta did provide ground transportation and a hotel before rebooking the family on a flight with a different airline the next day.
Gillette filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission because breast-feeding is protected under state law.
Associated Press
Saturday, November 18, 2006
STORY TOOLS
related linksMore Local
BURLINGTON, Vt. — A commuter airline says it has disciplined a flight attendant who ordered an Española woman and her baby off an airplane preparing for takeoff after the passenger refused to cover her baby with a blanket while breast-feeding.
The attendant did not meet company expectations when Emily Gillette was told to leave the plane at Burlington International Airport for declining a blanket, Freedom Airlines spokesman Paul Skellon said in an e-mail to news outlets Friday. The nature of the discipline was not disclosed.
"We concluded that the flight attendant in question acted contrary to the company's expectations," Skellon wrote. "We believe our disciplinary action was appropriate and was taken after considering all of the facts leading to this incident."
Gillette disagreed with Skellon's contention that the captain of the flight apologized and "immediately requested that they be re-boarded for their flight," which the family refused.
Gillette said Friday the airline "never offered" her a chance to get back on the plane for a Delta Air Lines flight operated by Freedom Airlines on Oct. 13.
"I would have jumped at the opportunity," she said.
Sitting aboard a plane that was three hours late in taking off, Gillette began to breast-feed her 22-month-old daughter. She says a flight attendant handed her a blanket and told her to cover up, which Gillette declined to do. The attendant said Gillette was offending her and she was removed from the plane.
Gillette had a window seat, beside her husband, in the airplane's second-to-last row.
Delta did provide ground transportation and a hotel before rebooking the family on a flight with a different airline the next day.
Gillette filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission because breast-feeding is protected under state law.
For more information:
http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2006/nov/18/at...
Woman Fights For Breast-Feeding Rights
Wis. Mother Protests Victoria's Secret For Asking Her To Nurse In Restroom
RACINE, Wis., July 2, 2006
Quote
"They opened up their employee restroom, which is disgusting. I said, `No, I don't eat in the bathroom and my daughter doesn't eat in the bathroom."'
Rebecca Cook
(AP) A woman offended when Victoria's Secret staff gave her only the option of an employee restroom in which to nurse her baby organized a nursing protest in front of the store.
About 20 women and children came out in support of Rebecca Cook in front of the Victoria's Secret store at the Regency Mall in Racine on Saturday.
Cook said she was shopping at the store with a friend last week when she asked to use a dressing room where she could nurse her daughter. When she was told no room was available, she offered to sit in the rear of the dressing room hallway but was told that was unacceptable, she said.
"They opened up their employee restroom, which is disgusting," she said. "I said, `No, I don't eat in the bathroom and my daughter doesn't eat in the bathroom."'
Protests also took place in Ohio and Massachusetts.
The leader of Saturday's demonstration in front of a Cleveland-area store said Victoria's Secret "plasters breasts everywhere" but seems offended when they're used for their intended purpose.
A spokesman for Limited Brands, the parent company of Victoria's Secret, said the company has a long-standing policy that allows mothers to nurse in their stores.
"In this incidence it was not adhered to. We regret that and apologize for that," said spokesman Anthony Hebron.
Cook said the nurse-in was meant to make people aware that breasts are not obscene.
"I understand that some businesses might not want to open up a dressing room for a nursing mom because it's taking up spots for customers," she said. "It's about being told that it's dirty, that it needs to be in the bathroom and needs to be away in private. That's the mentality that we're trying to fight."
She added that the store's models and mannequins show more breast than the average nursing mom does.
Racine resident Kerry Turner brought her 12-month-old daughter Delaney to the nurse-in to support Cook.
"It was ridiculous. It's a natural thing. Breast-feeding is a natural thing. That's what breasts are for," Turner said.
Hebron said the company would treat the protest as an opportunity to remind associates of the nursing policy. Copies of the policy would be posted at employee work stations and store managers would talk to associates to remind them of the policy, he said.
State Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, introduced a bill last year that would have allowed women to breast-feed in any public or private place where they were authorized to be, but the bill died in committee in May.
Women who nurse in public are protected from criminal prosecution in Wisconsin.
Wis. Mother Protests Victoria's Secret For Asking Her To Nurse In Restroom
RACINE, Wis., July 2, 2006
Quote
"They opened up their employee restroom, which is disgusting. I said, `No, I don't eat in the bathroom and my daughter doesn't eat in the bathroom."'
Rebecca Cook
(AP) A woman offended when Victoria's Secret staff gave her only the option of an employee restroom in which to nurse her baby organized a nursing protest in front of the store.
About 20 women and children came out in support of Rebecca Cook in front of the Victoria's Secret store at the Regency Mall in Racine on Saturday.
Cook said she was shopping at the store with a friend last week when she asked to use a dressing room where she could nurse her daughter. When she was told no room was available, she offered to sit in the rear of the dressing room hallway but was told that was unacceptable, she said.
"They opened up their employee restroom, which is disgusting," she said. "I said, `No, I don't eat in the bathroom and my daughter doesn't eat in the bathroom."'
Protests also took place in Ohio and Massachusetts.
The leader of Saturday's demonstration in front of a Cleveland-area store said Victoria's Secret "plasters breasts everywhere" but seems offended when they're used for their intended purpose.
A spokesman for Limited Brands, the parent company of Victoria's Secret, said the company has a long-standing policy that allows mothers to nurse in their stores.
"In this incidence it was not adhered to. We regret that and apologize for that," said spokesman Anthony Hebron.
Cook said the nurse-in was meant to make people aware that breasts are not obscene.
"I understand that some businesses might not want to open up a dressing room for a nursing mom because it's taking up spots for customers," she said. "It's about being told that it's dirty, that it needs to be in the bathroom and needs to be away in private. That's the mentality that we're trying to fight."
She added that the store's models and mannequins show more breast than the average nursing mom does.
Racine resident Kerry Turner brought her 12-month-old daughter Delaney to the nurse-in to support Cook.
"It was ridiculous. It's a natural thing. Breast-feeding is a natural thing. That's what breasts are for," Turner said.
Hebron said the company would treat the protest as an opportunity to remind associates of the nursing policy. Copies of the policy would be posted at employee work stations and store managers would talk to associates to remind them of the policy, he said.
State Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, introduced a bill last year that would have allowed women to breast-feed in any public or private place where they were authorized to be, but the bill died in committee in May.
Women who nurse in public are protected from criminal prosecution in Wisconsin.
I am a mother who nurse, but do not feel that I should just pull my breast out to feed my daughter. When in public, I do it discreetly, nursing is a beautiful thing but it is not for everyone's eyes including strangers. If she couldn't respect everyone on the flight and cover-up she needed to be kicked off. Remember she wasnt asked to stop feeding her child just to cover up her breast.
mtaylor-
As an activist for human rights, your opinion disgusts me. Sorry to be so blunt about it, but my breasts are NOT shameful and do not need to be hidden away. Just as I support a woman's right to show her face in public if she would like to, I also support a woman showing her breast. ESPECIALLY if she in using it to feed and nourish her child, which is NORMAL and NATURAL. No one asks a women who is bottle feeding to use a blanket, and what is a bottle but a fake breast?
I will never cover my child's head with a suffocating blanket or drape just to please someones backwards opinion about modesty!! (ever see a victoria secrets ad? how about a woman wearing a bikini? why is that ok but my breasts that feed my child are not?)
As an activist for human rights, your opinion disgusts me. Sorry to be so blunt about it, but my breasts are NOT shameful and do not need to be hidden away. Just as I support a woman's right to show her face in public if she would like to, I also support a woman showing her breast. ESPECIALLY if she in using it to feed and nourish her child, which is NORMAL and NATURAL. No one asks a women who is bottle feeding to use a blanket, and what is a bottle but a fake breast?
I will never cover my child's head with a suffocating blanket or drape just to please someones backwards opinion about modesty!! (ever see a victoria secrets ad? how about a woman wearing a bikini? why is that ok but my breasts that feed my child are not?)
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