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A family was left stunned after a Washington restaurant owner allegedly told them to get out over a mother breastfeeding her newborn.
The ordeal went down at the Greek Islands Restaurant in Anacortes, Washington, KOMO reports. Ruby and Aaron Meeden, along with their 4-day-old baby Rhett, were meeting up with relatives to have dinner at the restaurant.
“I made sure to get a good latch before we went in and then I covered and everything and we sat facing the wall,” Ruby told reporters. Aaron Meeden claims the owner seemed busy with phone orders and left them waiting for half an hour.
That's when the owner approached the table and told the family to leave.
“So we were asking him, ‘What's wrong? is everything ok,’” Aaron said. “And at that point he said, ‘Never come back.’" After the incident, the father decided to post a scathing online review of the restaurant's service, and he got a response back from the owner.
“It called our kids snot-nosed brats and to never come in and breastfeed again. Called my wife an animal,” Aaron claims.
Washington state law does give mothers the right to breastfeed their child "in any place of public resort, accommodation, assemblage, or amusement."
The Meedens said they plan to request an investigation from the state Human Rights Commission.
KOMO reached out to the restaurant for comment, but their requests haven't been returned.