ANACORTES, Wash. – A group protested outside an Anacortes restaurant on Tuesday, September 14th, after a new mother said she was kicked out for breastfeeding her infant.
Ruby Meeden tells KOMO News that she fed her four-day-old baby while she and her husband waited for relatives inside the Greek Islands Restaurant.
“I made sure to get a good latch before we went in,” says Meeden. “Then I covered and everything and we sat facing the walls.”
Aaron Meeden says the owner ignored them for about a half hour before ordering them to leave.
“So, we were asking him what’s wrong, is everything okay,” says Aaron Meeden. “And at that point he said to never come back.”
They posted a negative online review of the restaurant that the owner responded to with more insults.
That prompted the group of other angry mothers to protest outside the restaurant.
“He’s going to have to answer for it one way or another,” says one of the protestors. “It’s illegal to kick a woman out for breastfeeding.”
State law does recognize the right of women to breastfeed in public.
The Meedens say they’ll ask the Human Rights Commission to investigate.
