Stonewall Chairman: ‘Male breastfeeding will become commonplace’

Stonewall’s Chairman has said he thinks male ‘breastfeeding’ will become normalised in society.

In an interview with Sky News’ Beth Rigby, Iain Anderson argued that gender “is much more fluid” than “biological reality”, likening the media’s “shock” at the first MP to breastfeed in Parliament to the reaction against a man attempting to feed a baby.

Members of the public branded the comparison, “insane” and “disgusting”.

Breastfeeding

The discussion of the issue was prompted by a picture shared on Twitter of a man claiming to be breastfeeding his child.

While trans activists claim that men can breastfeed just like women, men cannot naturally lactate. To mimic the effect, they can take a combination of chemicals in conjunction with a breast pump to simulate the physical changes to a woman’s body.

The method was originally designed for women such as adoptive mothers, and can cause irregular heartbeats in the children if the drugs pass into their milk.

Sport and spaces

When the Stonewall Chairman was shown a picture of Will Thomas, known as Lia, taking first place in a women’s elite swimming competition, Anderson refused to acknowledge that it was a “problem” for the female swimmers who came second and third place, merely acknowledging: “we’re working our way through on this”.

Following the interview, Stonewall moved swiftly to clarify its pro-trans stance on several policy issues.

While Anderson admitted that “there are competing rights” in this area, the lobby group’s reactive statement contradicted him, saying: “We do not believe that people’s rights are in competition.”

And although Anderson called for an “opportunity to come together” for better discussion with groups such as LGB Alliance, Stonewall clarified that it would not speak to those it has branded “anti-trans”.

Parliament

Last month, MPs across the political spectrum urged the Government to restrict the term “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 to biological sex.

The fiercely contended Westminster Hall debate was triggered by two opposing petitions – each attracting over 100,000 signatures – on whether the law should be reformed in support of sex-based rights.

Those in favour of clarifying the law argue that current ambiguity around the word ‘sex’ makes it more difficult for single-sex services to limit their facilities to biological women.