Marian Tompson, a co-founder of La Leche League International (LLL), the world’s oldest breastfeeding support organization, recently stepped down, citing frustrations with the charity’s shift in focus to include transgender women in its services.

In her resignation letter, the 94-year-old founder expressed that the organization’s current direction “has become a travesty of my original intent,” as reported by The Daily Mail.

Tompson’s letter to the LLL board of directors strongly condemned what she sees as a move away from LLL’s core mission of supporting biological women in breastfeeding.

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She wrote, “From an organization with the specific mission of supporting biological women who want to give their babies the best start in life by breastfeeding them, LLL’s focus has subtly shifted to include men who, for whatever reason, want to have the experience of breastfeeding.”

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She voiced concern over the lack of “careful long-term research on male lactation and how that may affect the baby,” criticizing the board for “indulging the fantasies of adults.”

Though Tompson had attempted to persuade the board to refocus on its original goals, she admitted that her efforts were unsuccessful. However, she expressed hope to return to LLL “when it returns to its original mission and purpose.”

From left, Alie Cyr and daughter, Lilly Cyr, 4 months, and Ailya Caltagirone, 4 months, with her mother, Lisa Caltagirone, during Keeping Pace with Multiple Miracles’ weekly Baby Caf in West Bridgewater, Mass., in August 2021, during World Breastfeeding Week.

Helen Joyce of the British women’s rights charity Sex Matters also criticized LLL’s policy shift, calling it “one of the starkest examples of how gender-identity ideology turns organizations upside-down.”

According to Joyce, LLL’s decision to include transgender women in its breastfeeding support services undermines its founding mission and disregards the desires of mothers, group leaders, and trustees who favor a woman-centered approach.

She remarked, “By including men who want to breastfeed in its services, LLL is destroying its founding mission to support breastfeeding mothers.”

The controversy over transgender inclusion has also caused division within LLL’s British branch, where disputes reportedly prompted the British Charity Commission regulator’s involvement. Allegations of harassment and bullying emerged as some members pushed back against the policy to accommodate transgender women.

Amid this turmoil, another trustee of La Leche League GB, Miriam Main, also stepped down, stating, “I do not recognize LLL in the bullying, lies, and cruelty of recent times and this has been unreasonably hard to endure.”

A spokesperson for the British branch responded to Tompson’s resignation, acknowledging her long-standing dedication to the organization and breastfeeding advocacy.

Sarah Hadeka of Naples nurses her son Connor, 5 months, with other moms at the Global Big Latch On 2019 on Saturday, August 3, 2019, at Lakes Regional Library in Fort Myers. The Global Big Latch On takes place over two days during World Breastfeeding Week at registered locations around the world. At the events, women gather together to breastfeed and offer peer support to each other. The Fort Myers event had 34 nursing babies and toddlers. Fnp 0803 Ai Latchon01 Mainart

“We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the role Marian Tompson has taken both in founding LLL and her tireless global work in the wider field of breastfeeding support for almost seventy years,” the statement read.

With divisions deepening within the organization and its founder’s strong objections now public, LLL faces an uncertain path as it balances its original mission with the demands of today’s changing social landscape.