"Nurse in"

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. -- A Santa Fe, N.M., woman said she was kicked off an airplane for breast-feeding her child. The alleged incident has drawn support from about 30 parents and their children.

They sat in front of an airline counter Wednesday in South Burlington, Vt., to protest the treatment of 27-year-old Emily Gillette. Mothers breast-fed their children and held up signs during the "nurse-in."

"I just think it's unbelievable that it happened in 2006, especially in Vermont," Lora McAllister, a mother from Swanton, Vt., told the Burlington Free Press. "It's kind of mind-boggling."

Gillette said the flight she was on was delayed for three hours, but appeared to be preparing for takeoff on Oct. 13 from Burlington International Airport when she decided to breast-feed her child.

She said she was being discreet and no part of her breast was showing.

She and her husband said that a Freedom Airlines flight attendant told Gillette that she was offended, and then she and her husband were asked to leave the plane.

A Freedom Airlines spokesman, Paul Skellon, said Gillette was asked to leave the flight after she declined a flight attendant's offer of a blanket.

"A breast-feeding mother is perfectly acceptable on an aircraft, providing she is feeding the child in a discreet way" that doesn't bother others, Skellon told the paper. "She was asked to use a blanket just to provide a little more discretion, she was given a blanket, and she refused to use it."

Gillette told the paper that she was moved by the nurse-in.

"They're so awesome," Gillette said. "I'm so grateful."

Gillette said she filed a charge against two airlines, Delta Air Lines and Freedom Airlines, with the Vermont Human Rights Commission. She said breast-feeding is protected under Vermont's Public Accommodations Law.

Freedom Airlines was operating the commuter flight for Delta.