January 5, 2008 -
Lubbock Nurse In is a Huge Success!

I just spoke with Vince Gonzales, the coordinator of yesterday's Nurse In at the Buddy Holly Center. Please read our [press release below] that explains the purpose of the Nurse In.

Vince has reported to me that there was an overwhelming positive response in Lubbock. Hundreds of supporters came to the event to show their solidarity with breastfeeding mothers, and to let their voices be heard that the discrimination against such maternal practices must end. Between 30 and 40 breastfeeding mothers came with their babies and nursed as the City of Lubbock offered them refreshments and chairs to sit on. The chairs were not facing a corner, they were not in a "back room", they were not lidless toilets. They were chairs, for normal people doing a normal thing. And the media was there too. Lots of it.

The event was empowering to all who attended, and has helped push the lactivist movement to a new level by being recognized and supported by the National ACLU.

In short - the event was a huge success! Birth Without Boundaries was pleased to be a part of it. Thank you to the lactivists in Lubbock. A big Thank You to Vince Gonzales, who, as far as we know, is the first man to ever coordinate a Nurse In. Thank you to the ACLU for it's endorsement of the event. Thank you to Mothers Acting Up for their support. Thank you to the masses of media that covered this event positively.

For far too long, the discrimination against nursing mothers has continued. Sometimes it comes in the form of art censorship as was the case by the City of Lubbock. Sometimes it's extremely overt harrassment like when Brooke Ryan was asked to cover up her nursing baby or leave the Kentucky Applebee's restaurant that she was in. Even after Ms. Ryan produced a copy of her state law that protects breastfeeding babies and mothers from harrasment (the copy of the law was given to her from the Health Dept, who produces these cards for moms to carry with them), the manager of the Applebee's restaurant still asked her to cover up or leave. It happens everyday in one form or another.

Breastfeeding mothers are becoming stronger regarding their innate maternal rights and responsibilities to their babies. No longer will they give an unhealthy substance such as formula to their babies to prevent others from feeling uncomfortable when out in public. No longer will they stay at home for months after the birth of their child to prevent the inevitable feeding time from happening out in public. No longer will they be shamed into hiding in dirty public toilets to feed their babies.

What happened in our society that has pushed these mothers into the bathroom for so long? It's clearly not an issue of morality, or discretion, just stand in line at the grocery store and look at the magazine covers. Could it be that real maternal femininity as in the case of breastfeeding, or pushing a baby out of our bodies, threatens something? Perhaps a system that reveres the thin, adolescent, submissive, sub-intelligent female type as sexy, with breasts that are objectified for the pleasure of almost everyone except for a baby who, as a mammmal, naturally depends on these objects for it's life sustaining source of food. This suppression of maternal responsibilities and innate rights is clearly part of a greater force of suppression of women. If there was ever a clear and important womens issue, it is that we must have the right to do with our bodies what was naturally built into us to do. Our society does not look at other mammals' reproductive functions as disgusting - a new mother cat nursing her kittens is cute - an image that we'd see in a childrens book. National Geographic shows dolphins giving birth as a miraculous and beautiful thing. You get the idea...something has gone wrong in our culture.

The obvious issues here need not to be repeated over and over any more. What is obvious is that a paradigm shift must happen - soon. And it will not shift until people shift it. So, I'm calling on you all to do whatever you can within your world to add to the power of making this much needed change. For ourselves, for the children - for the future.

Peace,
Salem

PRESS RELEASE

ACLU of Texas, Lubbock Chapter, Birth Without Boundaries, International sponsor Nurse-In in response to City of Lubbock Censorship of Lahib Jaddo artwork

January 2, 2008, Lubbock, TX:

Lubbock Nurse-In

Sponsored by: The Lubbock Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union; Birth Without Boundaries, International

Further Assistance provided by: Mothers Acting Up; Dr. Gary Miracle and Tobyn Leigh

Place: Buddy Holly Center, 1801 Avenue H, Lubbock, TX 79401

Date: Friday, January 4, 2008

Time: 5:45 pm

The ACLU of Texas, Lubbock Chapter, was and is greatly disturbed by the recent action to censor certain sketches designated for exhibit at the Buddy Holly Center.

The ACLU is opposed to censorship in all its forms, and believes that the right to choose what we see, hear, and read is one of our most vital freedoms.

But more importantly, we have heard the outcry in our community regarding the logic, or rather illogic, of censoring the sketch of a nursing mother and child, and the message such censorship sends to our community.

As you know, Scott Snider, a member of the City Manager's Office for the City of Lubbock, decided that artwork depicting a nursing baby was unacceptable for display at the Buddy Holly Center during the First Friday Art Trail, because he deemed it inappropriate for a general viewing audience without actually viewing the art. It's interesting that U.S. federal law protects nursing on all federal grounds, and Texas law explicitly protects the right of a nursing mother to nurse anywhere she has a right to be, which makes a clear case that neither federal law nor Texas law consider breastfeeding to be an act that is "inappropriate for a general viewing audience." Mothers are free to breastfeed in offices, parks, libraries, amusement parks, churches, and everywhere else, where they are likely to be seen by a much wider "general viewing audience" than the Buddy Holly Center, and that is supported by federal and state law. Yet Mr. Snider seems to feel that federal and state law are not a good standard for what is or is not acceptable viewing.

By portraying breastfeeding as "inappropriate," Mr. Snider - and by extension, the City of Lubbock government, of which he is a representative - is continuing to propagate the myth that breastfeeding is something dirty or sexual, something that needs to be hidden. Health departments all over North America are fighting against this myth, and it continues to play a role in the abysmally low breastfeeding rates. Formula-feeding increases risk of death from sudden infant death syndrome, certain types of childhood cancers, necrotizing enterocolitis, allergies, asthma, diabetes and obesity later in life, and many more ailments. 500 babies a year in North America die as a direct result of being formula-fed. Promoting the myth of breastfeeding being indecent has serious ramifications for the most vulnerable members of our society.

When a woman being asked to nurse in a Starbucks bathroom in Ohio becomes national news, I have no doubt that as large a city as Lubbock censoring artwork depicting breastfeeding, and the attendant fall-out would also become national news. I don't think that being portrayed as anti-family is the kind of exposure the City wants, and I don't want to have to portray the City of Lubbock that way either. But as things stand currently, the policy set in place by Mr. Snider and the City of Lubbock government is decidedly anti-breastfeeding and thus anti-family.

We recognized that the City officials were without a clear guide (other than numerous Supreme Court opinions) in place and they were liable to make mistakes and, of necessity, proceeded based on their own best judgment. Mr. Snider's judgment was off in this case and it turned this matter into an issue, creating a problem where none existed. We are humans and therefore we occasionally make errors, and in fact, Mr. Snider, and those in City government who had supported his decision, obviously were not working from a clear guideline.

Now that this issue exists, it has come to our attention that mothers throughout the community have been discriminated against and made to fell as second-class citizens for doing what is best for their children, breastfeeding. A clarification that breastfeeding pictures are not indecent or inappropriate, would be greatly appreciated. Although the State law may be on our side, public sentiment is not. We hope to change that, and perhaps bring attention to a law that has more bark than bite.

In summation, I'd like to point out that neither federal nor state law considers breastfeeding an obscene activity or something that needs to be shielded from children or the workplace; The City of Lubbock would be hard-pressed to find a better arbiter of decency than the law itself. If the laws protect the right of a mother to breastfeed in a public park a few feet away from children, I fail to see how a sketch of a breastfeeding baby is a greater risk to a "general viewing audience." If the laws protect the right of a mother to breastfeed sitting at her desk in an open-concept office, I fail to understand how a sketch presents a risk to those viewing at work. If we are to rate artwork as acceptable based on a standard of if they will offend a small segment of people, then I suspect a vast majority of artwork would have to be deemed unacceptable.

To that end, at 5:45 p.m. Friday, January 4, 2008, in cooperation with the Lubbock Chapter of the ACLU, Birth Without Boundaries Int'l., financial support of Dr. Gary Miracle and Tobyn Leigh, and the moral support of Mothers Acting Up, a nurse-in will be held in Lubbock, TX. The time has been chosen to allow working mothers (who face unique problems when breastfeeding their children) to participate.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 214-354-2337 or via e-mail at dpmitigation@hotmail.com.

Vince Gonzales
President
Lubbock Chapter of the ACLU

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