My 19 month old newphew is famous...fighting for his rights! [View All]

My sister is fighting for his rights...because he is too young, she makes me proud!

http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/8823527.html

http://media.ohio.com/images/pool+02.jpg
19-month-old Lucas Malcom looks down from the balcony of his grandmother's condominium at the pool he is no longer allowed to swim in at the Seven Stories East condo complex on Monday, July 30, 2007, in Akron, Ohio.
-----------
An Akron mother and the Fair Housing Advocates Association have filed civil rights complaints against her condo association, saying the group is prohibiting infants and toddlers from the swimming pool because of fears over unwanted pee and poop.

The complaints were filed with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission this month after Suzanne Malcom was told twice this year that she wasn't allowed to bring her 1-year-old son Lucas to the outdoor pool at the Seven Stories East Condominiums on East Market Street.

''As a parent, it's my responsibility to defend his rights,'' she said Monday afternoon during an interview in her small, fourth-floor porch that overlooks the pool.

Malcom, 35, a full-time student at the University of Akron, claimed that a board member approached her in mid-June as she and Lucas were entering the pool and asked if the boy was potty trained. Lucas was wearing a swim diaper and is potty trained, she said.

''It was upsetting,'' said Malcom, who has lived at the brick, seven-story complex for about a year with her grandmother. ''He enjoys being down in the pool and it's embarrassing to have someone come up to you and ask if he's potty trained and say he's not allowed in there.''

It was the second time she was told not to bring Lucas to the pool, she said. She, however, was welcome.

The condo board then enacted a rule that bars children under the age of 3 from the pool, claiming it's a health and safety issue, Malcom said.

A woman who answered the telephone at the condo association declined to comment.

Seven Stories East has a spotty record with the Civil Rights Commission. The group was sued in 1995 for discrimination against a family and the case was settled out of court. Two years later, the group was sued again for discrimination against families with children and again it was settled out of court.

The commission also is investigating a complaint filed last month about accessibility for disabled persons.

''This association, based on past experience, has a stubborn mind-set when it comes to families with children,'' said Vincent Curry, executive director of the Fair Housing Advocates Association. ''I don't understand why.''...