Breastfeeding mother and supporters to protest Johnny Rockets restaurant at Newport on the Levee

NEWPORT, Ky. - A group of mothers and other supporters planned a protest at a local restaurant where the manager is accused of asking a woman who was breastfeeding to leave.

Corday Piston, of Lexington, said she was breastfeeding her baby at the Johnny Rocket's restaurant at Newport on the Levee last month.

Piston said two waiters gave her permission to breastfeed.

"I was covered. She's a big girl and I was off in a corner by myself also, there weren't patrons around me at the time," Piston said.

However, she said a manager later approached her and asked her to use their public restroom to feed her six-month-old infant, after several complaints from some of the other customers.

"The manager who was on duty, basically asked her if we could make her more comfortable, by either providing her with a chair that she could set in the restroom here, which wasn't too far from her booth, the original booth," Rick Thompson, owner of the Johnny Rockets in Newport. "Or actually using our office so she could have privacy and she became offended."

Piston believes her rights were violated, so she organized a protest Sunday afternoon outside the restaurant to prove a point.

"I just want people to know that there is a law and whether or not they personally feel comfortable with breast feeding in public or whether they bottle feed or breast feed or however they choose to raise their families, there's a law that protects mother's rights," Piston said.

Most of her supporters came from a Facebook support group that she started herself. She says she has 280 fans.

Thompson said he was surprised Piston became upset and organized the protest.

"We always allow breast feeding, and we were just surprised that she took offense, because we never asked her to leave, what we were attempting to do was make her more comfortable," Thompson said.

Piston said she tried to take legal action, but has not been successful. She says she just simply wants an apology from the restaurant.