A Belgian diplomat says his family was treated like terrorists at a New York golf club because his wife was breastfeeding at a table and he was carrying a backpack.
Tom Neijens, who works for the Belgium Mission to the United Nations, and his wife, Roseline Remans, went to the Metropolis Country Club in White Plains last month for lunch on the terrace.
Remans told the New York Post she discreetly bared her bosom to feed her daughter, Luka, at which time a female manager from the club told her to leave the dining area.
“She said, 'Please leave immediately, you are disturbing the members,'" Neijens told the paper. He said it would only take a few minutes, but the manager told Remans to finish in the restroom.
“You don’t ask a person to have lunch in the restroom — why would you ask a baby to have lunch there?” Neijens said.
According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, state law allows a woman to breastfeed in any public or private place where she has a right to be. The couple does not have a club membership but was given permission to eat there.
Local police were summoned on a trespassing complaint, and they instructed other diners to leave the terrace. Neijens said a Greenburgh Police Department detective said some people at the club thought they were terrorists because of their black backpack.
When Remans questioned why terrorists would breastfeed at a country club, the paper reported, the police officer's response was, "In Sri Lanka, babies are used by terrorists."
The family was escorted out through a back door, with no charges filed.
Neijens said he has asked for an apology from the club. Metroplis general manager Tracy Fraus declined to comment.
B.J. Ryan, a spokesman for the police department, termed the June 8 incident a “cultural misunderstanding,” the paper reported.
