Breastfeeding charity ‘bullied’ over refusal to ditch women-only policy

Britain’s oldest breastfeeding charity has appealed to the Charity Commission after being ordered to ditch its female-only policy.

Half of La Leche League GB’s Board of Directors were suspended by the international wing of the organisation, after they refused to endorse ‘chestfeeding’ and allow men to join meetings.

Now, amid what they described as a “culture of censorship, harassment and bullying” from a minority of the board, the suspended directors have urged the Charity Commission to intervene under the Equality Act 2010’s provisions for single-sex spaces.

‘Fundamental’

In a report seen by the Daily Mail, the directors told the regulator that many members will not breastfeed in the presence of men and allowing them into meetings would cause volunteer leaders to leave.

One leader explained: “Many breastfeeding supporters like me feel utterly disheartened by the way our charity has become obsessed and sidetracked by sex and gender issues.

“In the most recent diktat, we were informed that our charity is not and ‘cannot become a single-sex’ charity. We had already been told that the term ‘mother’ could be a ‘roadblock’.”

“But these are not small changes or ‘additive’ terms to our messaging: it is fundamentally problematic to delivering on our philosophy as a charity. Crucially, it is not in the interests of mothers or babies.”

Mothers

Earlier this year, the Health Secretary criticised the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust for claiming gender-confused men can breastfeed their children just as well as women.

The trust claimed that “human milk”, including ‘male secretions’, was the “ideal food for infants”, but Victoria Atkins called it “extraordinary that a trust thought this was an appropriate use of their time”.

She said society must make a “robust case to refuse to wipe women out of the conversation”, adding: “When I see reports of mothers as ‘people who give birth’! No – they are mums.”