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Winnipeg trans father denied leadership by breastfeeding group
Should a breastfeeding father be allowed to become a leader of a motherhood support group?
La Leche League Canada says no.
Transgender parent Trevor MacDonald, who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and also identifies as a gay man, was told by LLLC that he cannot become a group leader of the national advocacy group (which is an affiliate of the international mother-to-mother breastfeeding non-profit organization) because he does not identify as a mother.
MacDonald applied to become a leader but was rejected. MacDonald posted both his request to become a leader as well as the letter of rejection on his blog, Milk Junkies.
MacDonald emphasized that he loves LLLC and that his concern regards their policy.
In fact, he credits LLLC with helping to make breastfeeding possible for him. The stay-at-home dad (who has an honours BA in political science from UBC) transitioned from female to male and then became pregnant. Due to surgery, MacDonald was unable to make all the milk that his son requires. He uses a supplemental nursing system to feed him donated breast milk through a feeding tube. The tube is attached by MacDonald's nipple; the baby latches on to both the tube and the nipple.
In an article published by Out Magazine in April, MacDonald wrote "Breastfeeding is the easiest way for me to comfort my child when he is upset, tired, hurt, or scared. But as a trans man, it also causes awkward moments when I nurse my son in public."
The LLC representative who wrote the rejection letter quoted an LLLC policy established in 1994 that states that "since an LLLC Leader is a mother who has breastfed a baby, a man cannot become an LLLC Leader".
The representative went on to suggest that MacDonald could still contribute without having to be a leader. "A Leader needs to be able to help all women interested in breastfeeding. Fathers are able to help in other ways, for example an informed LLL father who is supportive of LLL philosophy might present a fathers' meeting."
MacDonald had proposed holding meetings for queer parents (an idea suggested by his local leader). He pointed out that a California man had unsuccessfully attempted to breastfeed his baby, and MacDonald suggested Skype sessions with similar parents could provide support.
However, the LLLC representative discouraged such an idea.
"I think that the group that you envisage would work better not as an LLL Group because its scope is beyond breastfeeding and LLL is concerned specifically with breastfeeding." The LLLC representative added that "what qualifies a Leader to relate to those mothers is her experience of mothering, not her experience of separation."
The LLLC is open to queer members and has accredited a number of lesbian mothers as leaders.
Despite the rejection, MacDonald has created a Facebook group called Birthing and Breastfeeding Transmen and Allies to provide social support and exchange experiences.
You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at twitter.com/cinecraig. You can also follow the Georgia Straight's LGBT coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/StraightLGBT.
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Same principal when Christian beliefs are not allowed in public schools but Islamic children are allowed to hold religious service in our public schools.
As a person who faces - and, so far, has overcome - challenges providing milk from his own body to his baby, I'd say he's quite suited to be a leader in the field. All of this transphobic, gender-binary nonsense is beside the point. Here is a person who breastfeeds. End of story. Any other qualifications he may or may not have should be judged independently of the pronoun he's currently using.
He was born female therefore there was a "BREAST" reduction performed as part of a transgender process, not a chest reduction. There was no narrowing of the rib cage, breasts were removed so say it like it is none of this nonsense, 'I'm a man now so I want it called a chest reduction but I want to birth a child, breastfeed it, be a leader in the breast feeding community & go to the news with my complaints, because I'm 'different' & I can, but don't say I had breasts. Grow up & either stand up with clarity about your choices or stay quiet, but DON;T mince your words to suit yourself.
He wants to start a queer friendly organization, but if I said to someone 'that guy's queer I'd have been blasted for being politically incorrect, a bully & who knows what else but, it's ok for him to say it.
He wants to be a male leader in a female oriented situation. The world is suppose to give priority to his feelings but apparently he's different enough to not have to care about the feelings of all the other women in the group. He gave up the right to a woman's washroom, change room, sports facility, yoga class as well as heading up a breast feeding group when he gained all the other rights reserved for males only, so suck it up (no pun intended).
He made choices in how he wants to live his life, that's fine and I hope he has found genuine peace & happiness but why does he insist that no one else is meant to have peace or comfort unless it suits him & fulfills his needs?
we should all clearly recognize by now, and be advocating against, the utterly false notion that a man can better protect women's rights than women themselves.
and while i think that Trevor sounds like a giving and devoted parent, i also think he should acknowledge the fact that breast feeding issues are best represented by someone who quite simply represents women's interests.
Trevor, if you seek to improve the situation of mothers, then shine some light on them.