Denogean: Let’s nip this breast law thing right away (Tucson Citizen)

It's hard to take people who refer to themselves as "lactivists" seriously.

But the current chichi cause - bilingual pun intended - seems to be breast-feeding.

A breast-feeding brouhaha in Chandler recently ended with the passage of an ordinance allowing women to breast-feed anywhere they are otherwise authorized to be. The Tempe and Flagstaff councils have said they will consider similar ordinances.

The Tucson City Council is expected to soon consider an ordinance authorizing nursing on all private property. On Nov. 1, it approved a policy allowing women to breast-feed on city property.

"It's a very sad statement that women's rights aren't being protected," Chandra Ruiz, a self-proclaimed "lactivist," told the council.

She and others plan to fight until it is legal to breast-feed anywhere and everywhere.

Never mind that such ordinances may not even be enforceable.

Michael House, Chandler city attorney, advised that city's council before passage of the ordinance that private property owners have a well-established right to exclude people from their premises for whatever reason, short of violation of civil rights laws. That includes the right to regulate conduct, he said.

That noted, of all the frothy matters the council could spend its time on, this one strikes me as the cream of the ridiculous crop.

Breast-feeding isn't a political statement in need of government validation. It's a natural act in need of regulation only by common sense and common decency.




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