A mother says she was left humiliated after water park staff told her she wasn’t allowed to breastfeed her nursing son in the lazy river. Tiffany Francis, a mother of two, from Georgia, took to Facebook on 14 July to detail the incident that allegedly occurred at Rigby’s Water World in Warner Robins, Georgia. Her Facebook post has since gone viral, with more than 1,000 likes and comments. “I have never in my years of being a breastfeeding mother had one single negative comment made to me about breastfeeding while out in public. I’ve had supportive comments from random people, but today was a different day,” she began her post. The mother then explained that she’d brought her 11-month-old son to the water park’s lazy river so she could nurse him before his nap. “He likes motion to sleep, he sleeps well in the car or swing, so he will also sleep in the lazy river,” she wrote. After her son was latched, Francis recalled that a lifeguard informed her that she wasn’t allowed to breastfeed in the lazy river. At first, she laughed off the lifeguard’s request because she thought it was a joke. Then, his boss came over to Franics and reiterated the lazy river’s rules against breastfeeding. “I asked her if it was posted somewhere and she told me that it was posted in the rules out front,” Francis said. “So I got out of the lazy river, and I went to read the rules.” The mother of two soon discovered that there was no rule against breastfeeding posted outside the lazy river attraction, and asked to speak to the water park’s manager. However, the manager instead claimed it was a “courtesy to other people” that she wasn’t allowed to breastfeed and cited the park’s rules against food or drink in the lazy river. According to the woman, she then asked for her family’s season passes to be refunded. “I can’t go there if I can’t get my son to nap while I’m there,” Francis said, noting that the water park staff wouldn’t refund her season pass. “Imagine all the bodily fluids being excreted into the water, but they’re worried about breastmilk when the baby was latched, my breast was out of the water, and the milk was only going into [the] baby’s mouth,” she continued. “I left crying, because I was told I couldn’t feed my child, which by the way it is against the law to tell a mother they can’t breastfeed their child. But sure, let’s worry about offending people by feeding a child.” Francis also pointed out how she witnessed several children sleeping in their mothers’ laps in the lazy river, and other children with their heads resting on their moms’ chests. “My situation looked just like theirs, my breast wasn’t exposed. My son’s face was covering everything,” she said. “Without looking extra hard, you’d think he was just asleep on my chest. But somehow I made people uncomfortable by doing the most natural thing I could do for my child, while just trying to let him nap.” Francis continued: “I’m just so upset and appalled and wanted to give a heads up to all the other moms out there that this is how breastfeeding moms are treated at Rigby’s Water World. You’re also not allowed to bring snacks in for the baby, so I was told today. I guess they’d rather babies just go hungry.” According to Georgia state law, which states that the “breastfeeding of a baby is an important and basic act of nurture,” a mother is allowed to “breastfeed her baby in any location where the mother and baby are otherwise authorised to be”. Speaking to People, Tiffany Francis described the incident as “humiliating” and noted that other breastfeeding mothers have since come forward sharing similar explanations about being shamed in public. "I just really didn’t think anybody would care. You’re at a water park. People are already pretty naked there, right? I don’t think it was the most offensive thing to happen that day," she told the outlet. “As a mom, it’s just crazy that people think it’s not okay to feed your own child. If it’s a bottle, it’s fine. Feeding them table foods, sure. But feeding them from the breast just grosses people out for some reason,” she added. “It’s been sexualised to the point where it’s not a natural thing, and that’s just gross.” In one comment, a fellow mother wrote: “Girl! Call me any day I’m off and we will go. I saw a mom nursing the other day and kept an eye on her just in case anyone approached. Wish I was still nursing because I would nurse right next to you!!” “What?! Sounds like a good old nursing mama sit-in needs to happen,” another commented. “How is that even still a ‘thing’ in 2023.” Meanwhile, one dad said: “Wow, as a father this is unbelievably wrong. Anyone should be able to feed their kid anywhere without a problem.” A member of the Rigby family, the owners of Rigby’s Water World, responded to the Facebook post in the comments section: “I know that breastfeeding is allowed in the park and I can understand the safety issues that come in hand with feeding in moving water. As for the courtesy of other guests, I agree that a mom should be able to breastfeed at any time, however an exposed breast in a water feature without a covering could be seen as indecent (we wouldn’t let another guest do the same).” She noted that the water park does have shaded seating, family rooms, and an “admin building” designated for breastfeeding. According to Today, Rigby’s Water World revised its breastfeeding policy within hours of the incident and apologised to Francis for the “misguided” policy. “We had a policy in place that didn’t allow breastfeeding in the river that was in line with the health department’s standard on no eating or drinking in the pools,” said Steve Brown, vice president of operations at Rigby’s Water World. “When I was made aware of the law that mothers can breastfeed anywhere they’re allowed to be, we reviewed our policy, reaching out to other experts who operate aquatic facilities,” he says. “From there, we decided to allow our guests to breastfeed in the pools, should they choose.” Georgia’s Department of Public Health rules and regulations for public swimming pools, spas, and recreational water parks states that “bathers shall not be allowed to eat or drink while in or partially in the water”. “We were under the impression it was a health code violation,” Brown told the outlet. “It was a misunderstanding…it was my mistake to misinterpret the law…there are different opinions on this issue but we want to comply with the law.” Brown added that Rigby’s did not issue Francis a refund for her season pass, and maintained that she was not asked to leave the park. 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Clubs must face sanctions if they fail to comply with diversity reporting requirements and workforce targets, Kick It Out’s chief executive has said. Data released by the Football Association on Wednesday showed the 53 clubs signed up to the Football Leadership Diversity Code (FLDC) collectively failed to meet any of the eight hiring targets set last season. The FA board has now approved the creation of a new rule which will make clubs publicly declare their workforce diversity data on age, sex, gender, ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation twice a year from 2024-25. The detail of the new rule will be worked out in consultation with the Premier League, the EFL, the Women’s Super League and the Women’s Championship but Kick, It Out chief Tony Burnett insists it must have teeth if it is going to prove effective. “The club results for the Football Leadership Diversity Code are disappointing, but they are not wholly unexpected,” he said. “In the process of setting up the code, we expressed concerns that if football wanted to drive change, it needed to be transparent about its whole workforce. “Clubs were only willing to provide limited recruitment data and there were no sanctions for failing to comply. We need sanctions for non-compliance and future diversity targets baked into FA, Premier League and EFL rules Tony Burnett, Kick It Out “Now is the time to be bolder. The FA’s intention to make reporting of diversity data mandatory for all men’s and women’s clubs is a step in the right direction. We would urge the Premier League, EFL and all its 92 clubs to make that data transparent. “But we also need sanctions for non-compliance and future diversity targets baked into FA, Premier League and EFL rules. Without that commitment, we won’t know the true scale of the challenge nor be able to find solutions to make football more representative of the people who love the game.” The FLDC was established in October 2020 in a bid to tackle under-representation in the game, but Wednesday’s 2022-23 figures demonstrate clubs’ collective failure to meet any of the targets set. Senior leadership hiring of black, Asian and mixed heritage candidates is set at 15 per cent, but clubs only achieved 9.1 per cent. In men’s clubs, the target for new coaching hires from a black, Asian or mixed heritage background was 25 per cent but clubs only managed 16 per cent. For the first time clubs’ existing workforce data was included in the FLDC data published. It demonstrated that levels of diversity off the pitch fall well below the level in the playing population, and that hiring rates are currently not high enough to drive the rapid change needed. Within the 53 club signatories, 21 per cent of senior leaders and 29 per cent of team operations are female and seven per cent of senior leaders and nine per cent of team operations are black, Asian or mixed heritage. Across the coaching workforce, 13 per cent of coaches and 11 per cent of senior coaches are black, Asian or mixed heritage. Data from the Black Football Partnership published earlier this year showed 43 per cent of Premier League players and 34 per cent of Championship players were black. Former Chelsea defender Paul Elliott, who was key to the FLDC’s creation three years ago, said on Wednesday: “Football wants the diversity off the field to match what we see on the field. “While we have work to do to improve player diversity in the women’s game, diversity on the pitch in the men’s game is a given. “Despite this, if we look at Europe’s top five leagues, there are only two black head coaches – one is Vincent Kompany at Burnley and the other is Patrick Vieira at Strasbourg. “So the challenge is not just in the UK, it’s all across Europe, but I personally have a greater expectation of progress in the UK because of the diversity of our society. “By evolving the code to mandatory reporting of workforce data, we can take a new approach with new transparency. It is a natural next step. I am pleased that the FA is leading on this topic and embedding it in the rules of the game; that will help to accelerate progress and the growth we need.” Kick It Out wants football’s new independent regulator to oversee equality standards as part of a code of football governance and to compel clubs to share representation and recruitment data. Currently, clubs in the Premier League are independently evaluated under the league’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion standard (PLEDIS), while the EFL’s Equality Code of Practice assesses work, learning, development and commitment to EDI and provides a grade of bronze, silver or gold after review. 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