Bethany Morton, a mom of two from St. Paul, says she was asked to leave the Old Country Buffet restaurant in Maplewood for breast feeding her baby on Easter Sunday. The restaurant says that the family was asked to leave after Morton's fiance, Joe Santos, became verbally aggressive towards the restaurant's staff.
Allegedly, a server asked Morton to cover up as she was breastfeeding her six-month-old son Dawson. She refused. The restaurant manager arrived, Santos defended his fiancee, and the family was given a refund and asked to leave. Morton acknowledges that Santos was loud, but denies the restaurant's claims that he was shouting and using profanity. A staff member called Maplewood police who arrived at the restaurant, spoke with the couple, but took no action.
Minnesota law protects a mother's right to breastfeed in any public or private location that she and her child are authorized to be. That includes when dining at a restaurant.
The story ran in the Star Tribune, on KARE 11 and the article in the Pioneer Press' online newspaper has received 700 comments, ranging from support to derision of Morton and her family, schoolboy humor, and those wondering what all the fuss is about.
The Chief operating officer of Buffet's, Inc., Old Country Buffet's parent company, called Morton to apologize on Monday. That hasn't appeased her. Morton's friends have started a Facebook group, Boycott Old Country Buffet (they don't like breastfeeding), which has over 1,100 supporters, and is planning a protest of nursing mothers at the restaurant on Monday lunchtime, unless Old Country Buffet apologizes publicly.
Comments
There is a law to protect babies and mothers. The problem is, it is not enforced. The cops were called, why wasn’t the server, the manager, or the restaurant fined or ticketed for violating the law? It makes me so mad that people respond to these stories still blaming the victims and telling them to cover up, when the law is on their side! Minnesota Statue 145.905 says, “A mother may breastfeed in any location, public or private, where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be, irrespective of whether the nipple of the mother’s breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breastfeeding.” So they were kicked out for defending their rights… This is discrimination and a violation of state law. The restaurant’s attempts to blame the father because he was rude just adds insult to injury! Having the law is the first step, enforcing the law with penalties and fines is apparently necessary. The funds from such fines should go to programs to encourage and normalize breastfeeding in public, and the companies that violate nursing laws should be required to post breastfeeding friendly signs up on their location. To me, people who still have issue with breastfeeding in public are bigots, and should be viewed similarly as if they were suggesting African Americans should be segregated, or women shouldn’t allowed to vote, or people shouldn’t be allowed to pray… babies should be allowed to eat anytime, anywhere, uncovered, and unsmothered, this is a basic human rights violation and the perpetrators should be held accountable for their crime.
Just so everyone is TOTALLY clear on this thread.. This woman is a straight and simple money-grabber. I have a friend in MN who was actually in the restaurant at the time this was happening. She and her boyfriend were rude and insulting to staff they were NOT asked to leave because of Breastfeeding. The police were called because they were aggressive and would not leave the restaurant. These folks are simple white trash.. Oh! and her boyfriend has a criminal record a mile long (look up Joseph Santos on the Hennepin County court records). Domestic Abuse, solicitation of prostitutes to name just a few – no one can convince me this guy is “daddy of the year” who was just standing up for his family’s rights – please!
As an interesting Footnote, her lawyer has not made it clear he is seeking a “cash settlement” from OCB.. I hope OCB stands firm. I am so sick of people like this that think their right to anything trumps everyone elses….
Seriously folks. Get the facts straight. They were asked to leave due to their childish tantrum, not because of the breastfeeding. Personally, I would have suggested to the couple to eat at Hooters if she wanted to exercise her breastfeeding rights in such an immodest way.
I say, amend the MN law to say that breastfeeding in public is okay, but cover up so your boob isn’t on display. I’m all for breastfeeding, but I don’t want to see another woman’s bare breast while I’m eating!
Lori – you are ignorant and I feel sorry for your children! If breastfeeding offends you, then you put a blanket over YOUR head or eat your food in the bathroom!!
Nurses, well said.
The Truth, what does that have to do with the restaurant being wrong in asking her to cover up while feeding her child? Were they being rude and insulting before she was asked to cover up? I’m not condoning the way they handled the situation but let’s face it, the restaurant was wrong. Period.
Facts, wow, nice tacky Hooters comment there. You must be a real prize. Breasts are not for anything other than feeding babies. Grow up.
Lori, if you don’t want to see it, look away. It’s called a neck and it has muscles and can turn in more than one direction. They’re called eyeballs and they do turn in their sockets.
Melissa, good call. I’d love for all these people who are so offended by nursing in public to go eat in a bathroom, or sit and eat with a blanket over their heads.
Neither for nor against breastfeeding, but the mother should have foreseen the need to feed her child and brought a bottle full of breast milk or worn a nursing bra. Flame me all you want, but having a modicum of common sense tells you that plus not ALL people are OK with public nudity. Whether the law agrees with you or not. The people who are strongly for the rights of breastfeeding in public are just as bad as the ones on the opposing side. You take a stance on the subject and ridicule anyone whose opinions don’t match yours. Our society (America – and we’re not the only ones) are so uptight about nudity that I’m surprised that we’re not still in Victorian England. The human body is NOT something to be ashamed of. I think that if people were to get educated about the human body we would have less friction. Is everyone who goes to a nude beach a degenerate pervert, going around in a state of sexual arousal and having sex? No, they are just people who understand that the human body is a wonderful creation and can separate sex from nudity.
CMSCWCM, what The Truth is saying is that they were not upstanding citizens. If the man has an extensive criminal record he would probably be less than honest and probably has an ulterior motive. BTW, breasts ARE sexual objects. The primary use of breasts are to feed infants, but they are also used in sexual copulation and are part of what’s call the Erogenous Zone. I can only guess that you have never been sexually aroused by having you breasts stimulated during foreplay/sex. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erogenous_zone While I know wikis are not the most reliable source of information, I did take Anatomy and Physiology so I can say to some extent that this is true. “Having the chest, breasts and nipples stimulated manually (hands), digitally (fingers, toes) and/or orally (mouth, lips, teeth, tongue) is a pleasurable experience enjoyed by many males and females.” So your statement about breasts being for feeding ONLY holds no water. Just because you don’t see what’s in front of you doesn’t make it any less true. If we didn’t find sex so pleasurable, we’d have no reason to procreate and propagate our species.
But back to the subject at hand, the couple were asked to leave not because the woman was breastfeeding but because they were rude, loud, obnoxious, and disruptive to the other patrons AFTER she had been asked to cover up, not because the woman was breastfeeding. The father OVERREACT and they were asked to leave because of that. And suggesting that breastfeeding is the same as slavery and what African Americans have gone through is just ignorant.
For the record: I’m a heterosexual white male, living in the USA, never had the problems that women have had, and I see the female body as something other than a sexual object (although I so do enjoy seeing it as a sexual object). And as I get down off my soapbox I’ll leave you the words that the fictitious Johnny Storm has said on occasion: “Flame On!”
I am not disagreeing that they were wrong for becoming insulting and rude. They could have respectfully made their case, etc. And the fact that they’re “not upstanding citizens” has nothing to do with the fact that the restaurant wanted her to cover up and it was against the law. Were they being rude and disrespectful before the server asked her to cover up? It doesn’t say. I’d have been upset over being asked to cover up too. I wouldn’t have become rude and insulting but they’d have known I was mad. And they’d have known what they were asking was illegal.
Breasts are sexual because our society has made them that way. Not what they’re intended for.