A battle over breastfeeding in public will play out Saturday morning at a restaurant in Bremerton. That's where a local mom claims her rights were violated while she was nursing her son.
Sydney Olsen says she was standing in line, placing a to-go order at Noah's Ark Restaurant while breastfeeding her four-month-old. She says she was offended when the manager came over and asked her to cover up.
"Would you mind covering up, do you have a blanket that you can put over him and cover yourself, is what she said," said Olsen. "And I said no I don't, it's actually against the law for you to ask me to do that. There are laws in place in Washington that protect me and allow me to nurse wherever I'm allowed to be."
Bianca Garguile, who manages the restaurant her family has owned for 40 years, admits she asked Olsen if she had a blanket to cover up, but says she only did so after several customers complained and told her they felt uncomfortable.
"My intention was never to offend her," said Garguile.
It was just a short time later when Garguile says she received the first message from an upset customer, who had seen a post Olsen made on Facebook, explaining what had happened to her.
The restaurant's phone rang off the hook for much of Thursday and Friday, as people called to complain. Noah's Ark posted it's own Facebook message in response, apologizing to Olsen and promising that it won't happen again.
"We love breastfeeding mothers," said Noah's Ark owner Janet Garguile. "I was a breastfeeding mother, I breastfed all three of my children. We're sorry this has upset our customers."
That's not stopping a group of moms from staging a nurse-in at the restaurant. It will take place Saturday morning at 11 a.m.
"It's something people need to be aware of. We are so greatly discriminated against," said Olsen. "It's infuriating. If you saw someone chewing with their mouth open, you wouldn't ask them to put something over their head when they ate. You would just look away."
Washington state law does protect a woman's right to breastfeed in public places.
The owners of Noah's Ark say they'll now educate and train their entire staff on that legislation. They're also extending an olive branch to the moms taking part in Saturday's nurse-in, by offering free milkshakes to the first 50 moms that show up.
