Don't chill the champange yet, Kathy! You opined: > But frankly, I settle for having to nurse the over 3 year > olds in private! They probably want to make it not OK for adult men to suck > on women's breasts in public Now is when I rue Linux's lack of a universal clipboard, so here I will type the proposed wording as the bill was introduced, and then the "politicianized" wording. <ah-hem> MGL ch 272: Crimes against chastity, morality, deceny and good order Section 16: Open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior. A man or a woman, married or unmarried, who is guilty of open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than three years or in jail for not more than two years or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars. [The proposed amendment would add the following language: "The act of breastfeeding a child shall not be considered a violation of this section."] Section 53: Penalty for certain offenses. Common night walkers, common street walkers, both male and female, common railers and brawlers, persons who with offensive and disorderly acts or language accost or annoy persons of the opposite sex, lewd, wanton and lascivious persons in speech or behavior, idle and disorderly persons, disturbers of the peace, keeps of noisy and disorderly houses, and persons guilty of indecent exposure may be punished by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than six months, or by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment. [The proposed amendment would add the following language: "The act of breastfeeding a child shall not be considered a violation of this section."] The proposed amendment would also add the following section, Section 98D: Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, any person who is breastfeeding a child shall be entitled to any and all accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of all public conveyances, public amusements and places of public accommodations, within the Commonwealth, to which other persons are entitled. Whoever deprives any person who is breastfeeding, of any right conferred by this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars and shall be liable to any person aggrieved thereby for such damages as are set forth in section five of this chapter one hundred and fifty-one B; provided, however, that such civil forfeiture shall be of an amount not less than one hundred dollars. Me again. Now, add the term "child less than three years of age." [The proposed amendment would add the following language: "The act of breastfeeding a child less than three years of age shall not be considered a violation of this section."] As you can see, the original proposal did specify that were were talking about a breastfeeding *child.* Then the change is clearly not to protect the public from erotic acts between adults but to protect them from the sight of a nursing toddler or preschooler. Worse, it moves nursing toddlers from a gray area to definitely *not* protected and perhaps to definition as lewd and lascivious. Hope this clears things up (stirs them up, more likely!) And, thanks, we will puruse the LLL site for more info. ;-) >:-\ -- Beth Johnson Perinatal Educator, Doula Springfield, MA USA "Breastmilk: anything else is less." *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html