A Belgian diplomat was kicked out of a country club in New York just because his wife was breastfeeding .
Tom Neijens and his wife Roseline Remans weren’t members of the Metropolis Country Club but asked if they could eat lunch in the dining room anyway. Once they were seated, Remans started breastfeeding their daughter, Luka.
A female manager walked up to the couple and told them to leave because they were upsetting the other guests. When they said it would take just a few minutes, they were told to finish in the bathroom.
“She said, ‘Please leave immediately, you are disturbing the members,’” Neijens said. “You don’t ask a person to have lunch in the restroom — why would you ask a baby to have lunch there?”
Things got even stranger when police arrived to the country club.
According to Neijens, Detective Scott Harding warned them that they were trespassing and said some people in the country club thought they were terrorists because of their backpack.
“He was walking as if he was acting in a Western movie,” Neijens said. “He had one hand on his gun, one hand on his Taser.”
However, Harding changed his attitude when Neijens whipped out his State Department-issued ID. “You have to understand, this club has had terrorism threats in the past,” the cop said.
A few days after the incident, Neijens sent an email demanding an apology from Metropolis general manager Tracy Fraus and assistant general manager Audra Vaccari.
“I am deeply worried about your staff if they cannot distinguish between a European couple looking for a quiet place to breast-feed a baby and suicide terrorists carrying a backpack,” Neijens wrote.
The Metropolis Country Club declined to comment.
Do you believe the diplomat and his wife deserved to be kicked out of the country club?
[Image via Shuttershock ]
