Kristen Grissoms still gets upset when she thinks about what happened three years ago at an Orlando amusement park.
While sitting inside one of the park's restaurant, Grissoms was asked to leave by an employee because she was breast-feeding her then 6-month-old son, Braedan.
"A man told me he would rather me not be there," the Titusville mother of two said.
"I felt a little defensive and didn't understand what the problem was," Grissoms said, still a bit irked. "I wasn't making a spectacle of myself or doing anything wrong."
Grissoms politely informed the employee she had a legal right to nurse her son in public and would continue to do so. She also asked to speak to the employee's supervisor, but no one returned.
And that was that, until the next time she nursed in public -- sometimes with a blanket, sometimes without -- and received looks "as if I was doing something wrong or dirty."
Bonnie King, director of the Space Coast Office of Tourism in Viera, understands people's squeamishness about public breast-feeding.
"That's a part of the anatomy that we are not supposed to see and when it is showcased like that, it makes people uncomfortable," she said.
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I'm disgusted by this article. I really am.
It's incredibly disturbing to me that two separate officials from the Space Coast Office of Tourism have gone on record with negative statements about breastfeeding in public. The message being sent? Well, maybe it's legal to breastfeed in public, but we really don't want you to do it because it offends us. These folks didn't speak as individuals - they identified themselves as tourism officials, and they have just implied the endorsement of their agency by using its name.
I'm with Ruthy Wilson, who says, "When I hear about someone being asked to leave, it makes me very angry...Where would you like me to feed my baby? Go to the hot car while you enjoy your hamburger? Or would you like me to go to the toilet seat? Would you take your lunch to the toilet?"
Shame on you, Florida, for continuing to foster a climate of discrimination. Your most vulnerable citizens - the children - are the ones who suffer as a result.
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