Breastfeeding advocates and parenting gurus are voicing support for a transgender Winnipeg man who nurses his infant son in the wake of a motherhood support group’s refusal to allow him a leadership role inside the organization.

“La Leche League Canada’s decision is discriminatory,” said Annie Urban, who writes the popular parenting blog PhD in Parenting. “It is time for La Leche League to update its guidelines and recognize that breastfeeding is not exclusively a mother’s domain.”

La Leche League Canada (LLLC) recently informed Trevor MacDonald, 27, he could not lead support circles or serve as a breastfeeding coach because he identifies as a man, which contravenes the organization’s policy definition of motherhood. Only women can serve as leaders, according to LLLC policy. (Trevor uses “MacDonald” as a pseudonym.)

Elisabeth Sterken, director of INFACT Canada, a non-governmental organization that promotes breastfeeding, called LLLC’s policy “unacceptable.”

While LLLC has publicly supported Trevor’s right to breastfeed, and acknowledges his extensive experience nursing his 16-month-old son, the group has no plans to budge.

“It would take a lot of discussion over probably a long period of time before anybody was ready to even consider changing policies that would be in the best interests of La Leche League’s mission,” Fiona Audy, chair of the group’s board of directors, told the Star on Monday.

Several LLLC leaders contacted Monday declined to speak publicly, explaining the board’s decision is being handled internally.

Experts also question LLLC’s binary understanding of “motherhood” and “fatherhood,” terms that are increasingly interchangeable in a world with a growing number of gay and transgender parents.

“I think La Leche League is holding on to some very traditional definitions of motherhood and fatherhood,” said Andrea Doucet, Canada Research Chair in Gender Work and Care at Brock University. “What this case shows is that we really have to see these (roles) as fluid activities. If a man is breastfeeding, he’s breastfeeding.”

Health Canada and the Canadian Paediatric Society recommend infant breastfeeding for at least six months. In addition to nutritional benefits, experts say breastfeeding helps tighten the emotional bond between child and parent, be it a man or woman.

“It’s not so much about the man and the woman or the mother and father, said Dawn Hanes of Baby Friendly Initiative Ontario. “It’s the relationship that goes on between the parent and the child.”