Woman kicked off plane for breast-feeding baby
SuzannePjam
Posts: 411
With all the worries of terrorists a woman gets kicked off a plane for breast feeding? How ridiculous.
Woman kicked off plane for breast-feeding baby
Files complaint saying she was being discreet, airline disagrees
BURLINGTON, Vt. - A woman who claims she was kicked off an airplane because she was breast-feeding her baby has filed a complaint against two airlines, her attorney said.
Emily Gillette, 27, of Santa Fe, N.M., filed the complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission late last week against Delta Air Lines and Freedom Airlines, said her attorney, Elizabeth Boepple. Freedom was operating the Delta flight between Burlington and New York City.
Gillette said she was discreetly breast-feeding her 22-month-old daughter on Oct. 13 as their flight prepared to leave Burlington International Airport. She said she was seated by the window in the next-to-last row, her husband was seated between her and the aisle and no part of her breast was showing.
A flight attendant tried to hand her a blanket and told her to cover up, Gillette said. She declined, telling the flight attendant she had a legal right to breast-feed her baby.
Moments later, a Delta ticket agent approached and said the flight attendant had asked that the family be removed from the flight, Gillette said. She said she didn’t want to make a scene and complied.
“It embarrassed me. That was my first reaction, which is a weird reaction for doing something so good for a child,” Gillette said Monday.
A Freedom spokesman said Gillette was asked to leave the flight after she declined the blanket.
“A breast-feeding mother is perfectly acceptable on an aircraft, providing she is feeding the child in a discreet way,” that doesn’t bother others, said Paul Skellon, spokesman for Phoenix-based Freedom. “She was asked to use a blanket just to provide a little more discretion, she was given a blanket, and she refused to use it, and that’s all I know.”
A complaint against two airlines was filed with the Vermont Human Rights Commission, although Executive Director Robert Appel said he was barred by state law from confirming the complaint. He said state law allows a mother to breast-feed in public.
The Vermont Human Rights Commission investigates complaints and determines whether discrimination may have occurred. The parties to a complaint are given six months to reach a settlement. If none is reached, the commission then decides whether to go to court. A complainant can file a separate suit in state court at any time.
© 2006 The Associated Press.
Woman kicked off plane for breast-feeding baby
Files complaint saying she was being discreet, airline disagrees
BURLINGTON, Vt. - A woman who claims she was kicked off an airplane because she was breast-feeding her baby has filed a complaint against two airlines, her attorney said.
Emily Gillette, 27, of Santa Fe, N.M., filed the complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission late last week against Delta Air Lines and Freedom Airlines, said her attorney, Elizabeth Boepple. Freedom was operating the Delta flight between Burlington and New York City.
Gillette said she was discreetly breast-feeding her 22-month-old daughter on Oct. 13 as their flight prepared to leave Burlington International Airport. She said she was seated by the window in the next-to-last row, her husband was seated between her and the aisle and no part of her breast was showing.
A flight attendant tried to hand her a blanket and told her to cover up, Gillette said. She declined, telling the flight attendant she had a legal right to breast-feed her baby.
Moments later, a Delta ticket agent approached and said the flight attendant had asked that the family be removed from the flight, Gillette said. She said she didn’t want to make a scene and complied.
“It embarrassed me. That was my first reaction, which is a weird reaction for doing something so good for a child,” Gillette said Monday.
A Freedom spokesman said Gillette was asked to leave the flight after she declined the blanket.
“A breast-feeding mother is perfectly acceptable on an aircraft, providing she is feeding the child in a discreet way,” that doesn’t bother others, said Paul Skellon, spokesman for Phoenix-based Freedom. “She was asked to use a blanket just to provide a little more discretion, she was given a blanket, and she refused to use it, and that’s all I know.”
A complaint against two airlines was filed with the Vermont Human Rights Commission, although Executive Director Robert Appel said he was barred by state law from confirming the complaint. He said state law allows a mother to breast-feed in public.
The Vermont Human Rights Commission investigates complaints and determines whether discrimination may have occurred. The parties to a complaint are given six months to reach a settlement. If none is reached, the commission then decides whether to go to court. A complainant can file a separate suit in state court at any time.
© 2006 The Associated Press.
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"Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead,
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What's weird is that seeing breasts in a sexual context is okay, but seeing them in the context for which they were made is not okay. If you look around you, sex and breasts are used to sell most things and you see them in sexual contexts in movies, on tv, (think about how much more 'normal' it is to see breasts than a penis on tv and in a movie) etc.
It really pisses me off when people get all worked up over breastfeeding. It's so amazingly stupid.
cross the river to the eastside
i agree totaly , would they give a blanket to a woman whos top was extermly low cut ???
this kinda thing makes me so mad !
Astoria,Dublin,Reading 06,Wembley 07,Sheapards Bush & o2 09 thats multiple Jamgasms!
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I don't want to see it.
It makes me uncomfortable...especially if the woman was sitting next to or even near me.
That being said, I realize it is natural and me being uncomfortable is really my problem...not her's or her baby's.
So lopng as she wasn't trying to fly the plane while breast feeding...I don't see a problem.
That's just fucking ridiculous
Verona??? it's all surmountable
Dublin 23.08.06 "The beauty of Ireland, right there!"
Wembley? We all believe!
Copenhagen?? your light made us stars
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Verona??? it's all surmountable
Dublin 23.08.06 "The beauty of Ireland, right there!"
Wembley? We all believe!
Copenhagen?? your light made us stars
Chicago 07? And love
What a different life
Had I not found this love with you
Astoria,Dublin,Reading 06,Wembley 07,Sheapards Bush & o2 09 thats multiple Jamgasms!
I agree.
naděje umírá poslední
www.amnesty.org.uk
I dont understand what ur saying about the law ??
if it says it is legal to BF in public .
tho. why there is a law on this is behond me , we shouldnt need one !
Astoria,Dublin,Reading 06,Wembley 07,Sheapards Bush & o2 09 thats multiple Jamgasms!
That's what I was thinking...
naděje umírá poslední
www.amnesty.org.uk
Should she have too? of course not, though it doesn't take a genius to figure out it makes plenty of people uncomfortable, so why exactly would she not take that into consideration at least? If no blanket was available sure, but really, what is the big deal covering up anyway?
The request to cover up is completely reasonable however once she declined, the drama should have stopped there.
i agree that we shouldn't need one, but my guess is that they had to make one because this type of situation was happening too much (people getting upset over feeding in public). sad.
cross the river to the eastside
how about you just not look if it makes you so upset? jesus. it's a natural process. the mother should not have to be shamed. hell, chances are you sucked on your mom's breast too.
cross the river to the eastside
so i can understand this, what makes you so uncomfortable about that kind of situation?
cross the river to the eastside
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
Also: there's nothing sexual in breastfeeding, why should you feel uncomfortable? Just turn your head...
www.amnesty.org.uk
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Except that most people on this board think this is stupid as well. So pull your head out.
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I would like to answer this, since I also feel uncomfortable around people breastfeeding, even when I understand it is a natural process and that my discomfort is my own issue.
To me, it's pretty clear many of us are raised in this oppressive patriarchal society, where the natural purposes of breasts are to be hidden and shamed, while the sexualization of them for male gratification is capitalized on. Therefore, for me, at least, such conditioning runs deep. Feelings are arational. They represent our past brain wiring. So, while I may have irrational and rational concerns re: breastfeeding, which many times is unconscious. I do what I can by owning them, and by not projecting my own issues onto others. I use reasoning to redirect and grow from my own issues.
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It isn't quite the same. For some kids, once they get the bottle they won't go back to the breast.
it can be done. me, i would have had a blanket of my own and used it.
better that she fed the infant than had a screaming, angry, hungry baby
on a packed airplane. now thats something no wants to see.
ha, look at who you're talking to. a bunch of dudes who will never know what being in that situation is like. and i'd bet that at least some of these dudes have no problem seeing breasts in magazines or in movies.
cross the river to the eastside