By in Rhode Island’s Future
 |
| Elizabeth Gooding and daughter |
The ACLU of RI filed a lawsuit against the Ocean Community YMCA in
Westerly on behalf of Elizabeth Gooding for violating her right to breastfeed
in public.
The suit, filed in Rhode Island Superior Court by ACLU volunteer
attorney H. Jefferson Melish, claims that the facility repeatedly prohibited
Gooding from breastfeeding her baby in public, in violation of state
anti-discrimination laws and a statute specifically allowing breastfeeding in
public.
Elizabeth Gooding of
Hopkinton, RI is a mother of three and a former Ocean Community YMCA employee
and member.
The complaint claims that in February 2015, while nursing her
one-year-old infant in the YMCA’s daycare area, Gooding was told by YMCA
employees that she could not breastfeed her child.
After the incident, several YMCA supervisors confirmed that she would not be allowed to breastfeed in public due to “concerns about young boys.”
A month later, Gooding
again attempted to breastfeed her daughter there, and was again told by staff
and supervisors that she could not nurse publicly.
Gooding then spoke directly with Maureen Fitzgerald, the Ocean
Community YMCA President and CEO, who denied that there was any need to change
the center’s public breastfeeding policy, refused to hold a training for
employees, and added that Gooding should be “more discreet.”
The complaint further notes that later in 2015, after the above
incidents, Gooding was told that she could no longer bring her baby to the
mom/baby yoga class that she taught.
Plaintiff Gooding said
today:
“I am speaking out for women who have been shamed, degraded, harassed, or otherwise prevented from nurturing their children by breastfeeding. Following the extremely upsetting incidents of breastfeeding discrimination at the YMCA, I made a choice that I would take a stand in hopes of enacting effective change in support of one of our most natural civil rights. I encourage women who face breastfeeding discrimination not to be silenced but to raise your voice.”
Added ACLU volunteer
attorney Melish:
“Rhode Island state law specifically protects the right of women who are openly breastfeeding to do so anywhere they are authorized to be. Given this law and the fact that breastfeeding is associated with numerous benefits, it’s disheartening that discrimination against nursing mothers still exists. This suit is proof that people still need to be made aware that, in Rhode Island, public breastfeeding is a legal right.”
Nicole Cordier is the
Development & Communications Associate for the ACLU of Rhode Island.