Quote:
Originally Posted by laurdsed  Unfortunately, most states don't include breastfeeding women as a protected class like those groups of people you mentioned. Therefore, unless a state has language like California's public breastfeeding law,
"Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a mother may breastfeed her child in any location, public or private, except the private home or residence of another, where the mother and child are authorized to be present."
then the store owner, legally, can revoke a mother's right to be in their establishment. I am not aware of any law in Ohio describing breastfeeding as a civil right. Do you have the bill number?
This is why the Breastfeeding Promotion Act in the U.S. Congress is important because, to my understanding, it revises the Pregnancy Discrimination Act to include breastfeeding women.
Did I explain that clearly?
Laurel
|
You've bolded the only language I think might keep a woman in California from being subject to arrest for trespass in California. It suggests that the right to breastfeed is superior to the owner's right to withdraw authorization to be in the space. The owner's right to withdraw authorization - to turn an "invitee" into a "trespasser" subject to arrest - is limited only by express law, such as the civil rights laws forbidding discrimination on the basis of race and sex. An owner can not ask someone to leave because they are black because of civil rights laws. However in most places there are no laws preventing discrimination on the basis of breastfeeding.
As for what a previous poster said about bringing a lawsuit, I don't know of any legal action that can be taken if one is discriminated against on the basis of breastfeeding in California. Just because an action violates the law, doesn't mean you can sue. There has to be a legally created way to do it. There isn't one in California, or most places for that matter.
On Ohio - there is no statute making breastfeeding a civil right. The public breastfeeding law in Ohio has no enforcement provision so contains no remedy if it is violated. Last year someone brought a claim before the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and the Commission found (in a preliminary but not a final ruling) that breastfeeding discrimination is sex discrimination. This has nothing to do with the public breastfeeding law. That case settled so there is no way of knowing whether the Commission would have finally determined that there was a civil rights claim or whether that decision would have survived appeal to a higher court.
Big point I keep making about the Breastfeeding Promotion Act -
the BPA has nothing to do with public breastfeeding. It applies to the workplace only. The BPA is a great and important thing, but we need to be clear about what it would do.
Hope that helps.
I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this.
This isn't some petty issue that you can just ignore altogether. Hopefully, he'll see the light somehow. More 
s to you.
