Some of you may remember that, in 2006, Emily Gillette was forced off a Delta plane for breastfeeding her daughter.
The incident led to the first national protests at Delta ticket counters in multiple airports, and in a way made nurse-ins a national phenomenon. Emily Gillette filed a discrimination complaint against the Mesa and Freedom Airlines with the Vermont Human Rights Commission (which she won), and brought a suit against Delta Airlines.
Emily Gillette settled her lawsuit with Delta last week. The terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
After more than five years of legal wrangling, Gillette and the airlines have settled the case but have agreed not to disclose the amount of money involved.
In a separate settlement, Mesa and Freedom Airlines, which shut down in 2010, also paid $20,000 to the Vermont Human Rights Commission, which enforces that state's law upholding a mother's right to breast-feed. The state commission joined Gillette in suing the airlines after deciding her case was a matter of discrimination, says Robert Appel, the human rights commission's executive director.
This incident happened just as I was starting this blog, and whatever the terms of the settlement, it's an interesting bookend. I think it's safe to say that public acceptance of breastfeeding, while not universal by any means, has increased. And many policies, from the federal government down to your local hospital, are changing.
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