Katie Hamilton's Breastfeeding Sucks Sense Out of LACMA: Museum Apologizes

By Dennis Romero Tue., May 8 2012 at 11:59 AM

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An L.A. mom whipped out her booby and started breastfeeding at the L.A. County Museum of Art recently, inspiring a hapless "staffer" to tell her to cover up.

We call it human-nature performance art. The LACMA guard thought it was too strip club.

And so Katie Hamilton and her supporters have taken to Facebook to give it to the Miracle Mile artistic institution:

It all went down on Cinco de Mayo, she says, when a LACMA employee confronted her:

I was rudely harassed by an employee for feeding my baby in the most normal and natural way that a baby can be fed.
Keep in mind that during my visit, I saw at least four provocative paintings of nude women, breasts and nipples exposed. Nothing wrong with that at all.

I was clothed, satisfying one of my child's most fundamental needs, and quietly taking in the art around me.

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Oops.

Hamilton's online campaign against LACMA has received hundreds of likes and comments on Facebook.

LACMA responded yesterday with this note, also sent to the Weekly, from associate VP Brooke Fruchtman:

On behalf of LACMA, I want to take this opportunity to apologize for your experience this weekend.
Our policy when it comes to breastfeeding (and everything else) is absolutely to follow the letter of the law. The request made to you by our guard was the mistake of an individual who was ill-informed--it was not reflective of our institutional policy or family-friendly values.

That being said, it is my job to make sure our staff are properly informed, so we are talking to all of our guards and staff today to make sure they understand the law--and how very much we value our visiting families.

Again, many apologies for your experience at the museum.

Hamilton noted that California law indeed protects the ability of moms to breastfeed in the state, where ever, whenever.

Hamilton writes that she threatened to have 100 mothers come to LACMA to stage a nurse-in. As she filled out a comment card, she says she was told not to start a riot.

Too late.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

breastfeeding, LACMA, mothers, museum

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Butterfly

As a gallery attendant at LACMA, I must defend "Ofelia". I know her personally and I was there just after the incident. She had been pressured by another patron that was greatly upset over the perceived exposure. The gallery attendants are all well trained for customer service and it is my impression that it was "Ofelia's" desire to make everyone happy. She felt terrible about it after. Since then, there has been a great deal of training regarding this issue to ensure the pleasant experience for Mothers. LACMA works very hard to make art accessible for everyone. The day the patrons were here to breast feed as a group they were made entirely welcome at the museum, as they will be at any day. The gallery attendants were all very professional and even stayed calm when the a couple mothers attempted to rouse the gallery attendants to "say something about breast feeding". Some of the gallery attendants felt they were being misunderstood and being placed into a group of haters that didn't approve of breast feeding. The gallery attendants at LACMA have a job to help make certain the patrons and the art are safe. They help direct people when they are lost and all enjoy the wonderful environment LACMA provides. In doing this job it is never the intention to alienate any group or individual. It is a place of creativity, expression, and education. The gallery attendants are a very open minded group of individuals with many diverse backgrounds. We all hope you will visit LACMA and have a safe and enjoyable time to be had by all.

Good for you, Katie.

Kyzy

Thank you for being the "Voice" Katie for Mature responsible parenting. Don't listen to the negitive talk they are simply people that are NOT Educated.

Savvysearch

She seems like a narcissistic bitch, "milking" it for all its form. LACMA apologized, re-educated their guards about the laws . What more does she want? She wants the low-wage guards fired? Like I said. Bitch.

Nicole Biegenzahn

How sad for ALL of our society that so many people seem to think that breastfeeding is somehow felonious or immoral ... the world would be a better place if breastfeeding was accepted as the norm. It is one of the most natural and BEST things we can do for our children. I, for one, will be happy to join Katie and breastfeed my 4 (yes, FOUR!) year old at any nurse-in.

long dong

Can I suck on ur breasts too?

Frantzracing0

You are fucking gross nicole, I hope your child hates you one day when it REMEMBERS sucking on your titty at such an old age. NASTY NASTY NASTY

Ras5555

Masturbating is also a natural act that should not be shamed. In fact, I encourage Katie Hamilton to breast feed in public and I want the same right to masturbate in public while standing right next to her