The Vermont Human Rights Commission ruled today that Freedom Airlines discriminated against nursing mother Emily Gillette when a flight attendant asked Gillette to cover up while breastfeeding and had her removed from the flight when she refused to do so. The parties now have a six-month period in which to attempt to negotiate a settlement. If a settlement is not reached, the Commission could file a civil suit against Freedom Airlines. Gillette’s lawyer Beth Boepple has been quoted as saying:
What the Human Rights Commission does with it and how they decide to fashion a remedy once we get past …read more

Nearly a year and a half after Emily Gillette was removed from a Delta/Freedom Airlines flight for refusing to cover up while breastfeeding, the Vermont Human Rights Commission will hear the case. According to the Burlington Free Press, the Commission will review the findings of its investigator, who found reasonable grounds that Freedom discriminated against Gillette. The hearing is set to take place on Thursday, March 27, 2008, and it is closed to the public. While Gillette said she is not required to attend, she traveled to Vermont anyway.
I feel really grateful, still, for the way the state’s set up. …read more

Almost five months after nearly 900 people participated in nurse-ins at 40 airports across the country in support of Emily Gillette (the New Mexico mother who was kicked off an airplane for breastfeeding her toddler), Ms. Gillette’s case is starting to undergo investigation. Rebecca Robinson of the Bennington Banner reports that last Thursday the Vermont Human Rights Commission denied a motion by Delta and Freedom Airlines to dismiss the complaint against them.
Ms. Gillette refused to cover up while breastfeeding her 22-month-old son as they sat on a plane waiting for take-off from Burlington Airport in Vermont. Vermont state law specifically protects breastfeeding in …read more

Mothers returned to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport this morning for a repeat rally, both to support nursing mother Emily Gillette and to seek an apology for how the Texas mothers were treated at the initial rally.
This time the rally went off without a hitch. While the original rally consisted of five mothers and nine children, the second rally included 27 adults and 28 children–that will teach the airport security a lesson for sending them away the first time! Those ladies came back with a vengeance, albeit a polite and peaceful vengeance.
Only one other nurse-in out of the

The dust has settled after the national nurse-in on Tuesday, November 21, 2006, and the final tally approaches 900 activists and children at 40 airports across the country! I’m impressed by the tremendous grassroots effort organized in just four days’ time!
As I said, most of the press has been extremely positive. I’ve seen just a bit of backlash from letters to the editors of newspapers covering the story, and a lot of heated debate on news message boards.
Overall I think the nurse-in and subsequent media coverage reflected positively on a woman’s ability to nurse in public. Certainly women airline passengers …read more

All in all the first-hand accounts of the national nurse-ins have been extremely positive. The participants were peaceful and the news reporters were friendly and sympathetic to the cause. Only one participant reported a bad experience when she was turned away from JFK airport. Security was not allowing anyone without a ticket to enter, but the report was unclear as to whether this restriction was due to the planned nurse-in or simply a holiday security measure.
Here is a sampling of the news stories just starting to hit the web, including some video footage!
Phoenix, Arizona (20 activists plus children): numbers reported …read more

There are at least 20 airports confirmed for the national nurse-in tomorrow, and another 20 tentative sites (those which were recently added to the list and/or have one or two families committed and need more participants). Be sure to join the Yahoo Group for more information about your local airport if you plan to attend tomorrow (Tuesday, November 21, 2006) at Delta counters at 10 a.m. local time. If you want to share the story or pictures of your participation in a nurse-in, e-mail me!
Confirmed airport nurse-in locations:

Mesa Air Group (which operates as US Airways Express, Delta Connection, and United Express) has issued a press release that sounds a little more like the apology I expected:
“So there is no confusion, I would like to let folks know that we firmly support mothers’ right to nurse their children on board our aircraft. We have no company policies whatsoever that hinder breastfeeding in any way,” said Jonathan Ornstein, Mesa’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “In this instance, a flight attendant who was relatively new to her job made an unfortunate and incorrect decision. We would like to again …read more

The media frenzy over the woman kicked off a plane for breastfeeding continues.
Mothering magazine has an exclusive web interview with the mother, Emily Gillette, who says in part:

Freedom Airlines operated the Delta flight from which a nursing mother was removed for refusing to cover up. The Burlington Free Press has been following the story, and today it published a statement by Freedom Airlines. The statement explains that the flight attendant in question was young and new to her job, and she has been disciplined. The incident certainly has raised awareness within the company about how to handle such matters in the future:
To clarify our policy, Freedom Airlines firmly supports a mother’s right to breast feed a child. We understand that air travel presents particular difficulties to a …read more