To add to my previous post on this topic, please read what I have sent to
one of the JDs on LACTNET:

 

"For years, I have unsuccessfully tried to verify part of The New York Times
report (6/15/94) on the passing of the NY State Civil Rights Law # 79-e,
which protects the right to breastfeed in public.  Specifically, the
newspaper report gave the penalties of up to 5 years in prison and/or a
$5,000 fine for the violation of that civil rights law.  Everyone on the
state level that I have approached cannot find these penalties.  It is
important that I verify them and I wonder if there is any way you can help,
even if it is to point me in the right direction.  What I am working toward
is putting the law, verbatim, and the penalties, on a laminated card that
women can carry; having the law alone on the card does not seem to be enough
(as this mom in the courthouse discovered, and as many others have found).
The harassers pay more attention to the penalties than they do to the law..

My guess is that the penalties MAY be for a violation of any of the Civil
Rights Laws, not just # 79-e, but the state officials do not seem to be able
to verify that either.  I don't understand why this is so hard, and your
help would be very much appreciated."

 

Lee now writing to LACTNET:  The penalties that were quoted at the time, and
which I have included in part of my response to another organization, were
never confirmed.  So, if we cannot verify that those reported penalties are
accurate, we cannot put them on the laminated cards.   I had called the
governor's office and the state attorney general's office.  Nobody on the
other end of the line was aware of the laws, let alone the penalties; and
they did not seem interested in trying to verify the penalties.

So, is this NY State law a law without any teeth?  Do women in this state
have a false sense of security?  Do women need to test the law by bringing a
lawsuit against the harassers?  In my family (yes, it happened when my
granddaughter was breastfeeding in FAO Schwarz, a NY City toy store) and in
my community, we have been able to quote the law, and the harassers have
apologized.  Also, the facilities where the incidents occurred have educated
their staff regarding the issue.  However, as Diane Wiessinger has stated:
"The other side ends up having to apologize, but it gets tiring, and it's
really hard on the mothers involved."

Does anyone have any ideas as to what we can do to verify the penalties in
NY State?  Is there a NYS lawyer reading this who would be interested in
helping?  If so, please contact me.

Lee Galasso, MS, LLLL, IBCLC, RLC

 


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