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'Know your rights': Dublin sisters say they were unlawfully removed from park for breastfeeding

Two sisters at Southern Pines Water Park say an employee told them to cover up while they nursed their babies or leave the park.

DUBLIN, Ga. — Two women were breastfeeding their babies at the Southern Pines Water Park in Dublin when they say an employee told them they were not allowed to do that openly at the park.

Brooke Gay and her sister Macy Price said an employee told her and her sister that it's park policy not to allow breastfeeding without a cover.

"It just made us feel very uncomfortable, very unwelcome there," Gay said. 

"Just know your rights. It's your right to feed your child anywhere, with or without a cover," Price said. 

The sisters say the employee told them to cover up while they nursed or leave the park.

"That's not something that you really want to do, is cover your baby up. You're not going to feel welcome there. We just suggest that you not go, that was our thing, so we won't be back," Gay said. 

The sisters left the park, and Price posted about her experience on Facebook, and users shared her post more than 300 times. 

Leia Giddens, who currently nurses her 4-month-old daughter, heard about the sisters' experience online.

"It really rubbed me the wrong way when I heard about a mom who, like me, was probably doing the best she could, being told that she didn't have a right to be there for her children," Giddens said. 

So what does Georgia law say about breastfeeding?

It states that "the breastfeeding of a baby is an important and basic act of nurture which should be encouraged in the interests of maternal and child health and allows a mother to breastfeed her baby in any location where the mother and baby are otherwise authorized to be."

"I think education is just a big thing. It's so taboo to feed a child in one of the most natural ways is kind of weird almost," Price said.

"I always heard of people talking about this thing happening, and never happened to me so far, and it hasn't happened to my sister either until this day," Gay said.

Leia Giddens says she's planning a demonstration Saturday outside Southern Pines Park. 

She hopes other moms will join her for the "Nurse-In" in hopes of educating the public about legal protections, and to help normalize public breastfeeding. 

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