post #21 of 21
2/5/08 at 7:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CathMac View Post
Mamajake,
The mom in the Ohio thread did quote the state law on "Public Accomodation". She had noticed that houses of worship were not listed (and presumably not added back into the BF'ing law that referenced the "Public Accomodation law"). Essentially she wanted to know if the omission was an oversight or deliberate.

I used the Federal law as a point of reference to explain why I felt the omission was not a mere oversight. But also to raise the question --without necessarily answering it-- of whether or not a state BF'ing law with "Public Accomodation" language that does apply to churches would necessarily require churches to allow NIP'ing in situations when a church isn't actually acting as a "public accomodation". E.g.: during church services, religious instruction, etc. as opposed to acting as a private school or a daycare.

At the risk of confusing things further, this is where I think any "otherwise permitted" type language could be limiting (where it normally might not be), since any church with doctrine on this could argue that the doctrine precludes NIP'ing. I think the state is far more likely to defer to a church on a matter of religious principle (whatever we may think of that principle, or however misinterpreted it might be) than it is to a business owner concerned about offending a certain segment of his clientele.

So, having read the thread on the Ohio law I wasn't surprised to see that churches are specifically excluded in the proposed Mass law. If I had to have guessed I would have thought that most states would be deferential to churches on this. Maybe it's a credit to Mass that they are up front about it. It would be nice if churches construed any perceived ambiguity in favor of the nursing mom but my sense is that any churches that frown on NIP'ing will spend the time and resources necessary to figure out how the law applies to them.

Not that any of us has the time, but if we did it would be interesting to see how many of these states' laws authorize NIP'ing by virtue of a state "Public Accomodation" law, and out of those how many seemingly apply to churches and other places of worship.
~Cath
A big "yup" to all you write Cath. I think local authorities are likely to give houses of worship a whole lot of leeway in limiting conduct on their property. If a house of worship were to take the position that limiting breastfeeding was a matter of religious principle (which I have never heard of happening), it would have a whole other body of law to protect its right to do that. When church space is being used for non-church purposes (day care center, for example), I think you need a pretty explicit exemption from public accomodation law. During religious services, though, probably not so much.