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Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers
Reply to "District Security Officer Prohibited Me from Breastfeeding at DMV, Accusing Me of Indecent Exposure"
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[quote=Anonymous]I am relaying the details of an incident that occurred last week at the DMV to make all of you lactating moms know what we are sometimes up against and publicize what rights we have. I was not aware of the DC law until I faced this situation: On Wednesday, November 30, 2011, I was waiting with my 4 ½ moth old son in the corridor of the Henry J. Daly (Municipal) Building when a District of Columbia security guard forced me to stop nursing my infant son, accused me of “indecent exposure,” and threatened action against me. I was sitting on the floor in the corridor of the Municipal Building at 301 C Street, N.W., awaiting a traffic adjudication hearing. Because I did not want to nurse my infant son in the busy waiting room at number 1157 (where the activity might distract him) I decided to nurse him in the much calmer corridor outside room 1143. There were no chairs in the corridor, so I sat on the floor next to my stroller and started nursing my son. There were no signs directing me to the building’s “Breastfeeding Room.” At that moment, Special Officer xxxx xxxxxx, a security guard who was monitoring the metal detectors at the building’s entrance, yelled at me that I was not allowed to sit on the floor in the corridor and that I needed to get up. I responded, “Okay,” and continued to nurse my son from my position on the floor. Officer xxxx then again yelled that I needed to get up because I was not allowed to sit on the floor. I informed her that I was nursing my son, he was on my breast, and that I would comply with her demand as soon my son finished nursing. She responded that I needed to immediately take him off my breast and stand up because I was not allowed to sit on the floor. I promptly removed my son, buttoned up my shirt, and slowly stood up, still cradling my son in my arms. At that point, I leaned against the wall and, bracing my right leg on the stroller for support, proceeded to unbutton my shirt and again nurse my son. I then saw Officer xxxxxx communicating with another security guard, whom I later learned was Special Officer xxxx xxxx. After Officer xxxxx conferred with Officer xxxx, Officer xxxx approached me and told me that I was not allowed to nurse my child in the corridor, which was “public,” and she began to extol a barrage of illogical, ill-informed and humiliating statements at me. I looked at her with my eyes big, incredulous, and repeated, “What? I can’t breastfeed my son because this is a public corridor? Are your serious?” She then said, “Well, this is a government building, and you can’t breastfeed in a public corridor of a government building!” I then said, “Wait, let me get this right. You are now saying that I cannot nurse my son because I am in a public corridor of a government building??!! I don’t think that’s right! I am not doing anything wrong!” She then said I was guilty of “indecent exposure,” to which I replied, “So it is indecent exposure for me to breastfeed my son?! This is unbelievable!” I then asked for Special Officer xxxxxxx name. She showed me her name tag and I wrote down her name. I then told her that I wanted her supervisor’s name. Officer xxxxxxx responded that she was going to call her supervisor, to which I responded, “Good, because I want to talk to him, and I am going to make a phone call of my own—to my lawyer.” I then stood next to her as she supposedly spoke with her supervisor. As she explained the situation to the supervisor, I heard her say that I was exposing my breast. I replied, “I am not exposing my breast! My breast is in my son’s mouth, who is nursing!” Officer xxxxxx motioned for me to be quiet. I then called my law firm to ask for pro bono assistance and an associate who could immediately research the law regarding breastfeeding in public. Shortly after that Officer xxxxx finished her phone conversation and started to walk away. I hung up my phone and went after her down the hall to where she was standing at the metal detector conferring with Officer xxxxx. I told Officer xxxxx that I wanted her supervisor’s name. She responded that she was “not going to go back and forth with [me] on this.” I told her that I was not going back and forth, but that I was merely asking for her supervisor’s name. The hearing officer then called me into the hearing and so I turned around to walk back down the corridor to the hearing room. A male security officer, whose name I did not get, gave me a piece of paper with the supposed supervisor’s name on it. After I left the hearing, some fifteen minutes later, I immediately called the supervisor but no one answered the phone. Since this incident I have called the number given to me and no one has ever answered. The District of Columbia security officers were completely incorrect in telling me that I could not breastfeed in a public corridor in a government building and had no right to stop me from nursing my infant son. In 2007 Mayor Adrian Fenty signed into law the “Child’s Right to Nurse Human Rights Amendment Act of 2007” (Bill B17-0133) that unanimously passed in City Council. The law amended the D.C. Human Rights Act of 1977 and ensured a woman’s right to breastfeed in any location where she has the right to be with her child, public or private. Clearly, a public corridor in a government building fits within the statute’s language as a place a child has a right to be. The Federal government has enacted a similar law. As a result of this incident, on December 2 I filed a complaint with the District’s Office of Human Rights. I hope this matter will be resolved in a manner that not only will right the wrong that was done to me personally, but will ultimately ensure that nursing mothers have the ability to exercise the basic fundamental and natural right to nurse their children whether they be in their home or in the public corridor of a government building.[/quote]
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