Jasmine Sussex wins appeal in trans lactation vilification case | The Australian

A transgender woman who stimulated lactation and fed her baby the liquid produced has been ordered by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal to provide details of the hormones involved and the composition of the substance.

The overturning on appeal of a previous QCAT ruling represents a win for former Australian Breastfeeding Association counsellor Jasmine Sussex, who is being sued for vilification by Jennifer Adrian Buckley over statements referring to Ms Buckley as a “man pretending to be a woman”, “a child abuser” and someone who adopted a “delusional queer theory take” on breastfeeding.

The decision, handed down late last week by senior QCAT members Ned Aughterson and Samantha Traves, set aside a January ruling by fellow QCAT member Peter Bridgman, finding he had made errors in law constituting a “substantial miscarriage of justice”.

Professor Aughterson and Ms Traves found Mr Bridgman had erred in deeming that the process involved in stimulating lactation in biologically male Ms Buckley, and the nature of the substance fed to the baby, were not relevant to the case.

Ms Buckley has been given a deadline of September 16 to provide particulars of “the ‘induction’ of lactation including whether the induction involved hormonal stimulation and, if so, what hormones, the source thereof and the process and extent by which the levels were decreased or increased; the composition of the substance which was lactated; and the precise source of secretion of the lactated material”.

The judges cited evidence heard in the case from a medical doctor and bioethicist that “no evidence-based protocol to support the process of inducing lactation in a transgender woman (biological male who has transitioned to live as a woman) has yet been published in the academic literature”, and that “no longitudinal research exists regarding whether it is nutritionally adequate nor whether there are any negative outcomes for the child”.

Another expert witness, a registered pediatrician, is cited as having made reference to “the risks associated with taking ­‘secretion-inducing drugs’, including for the infant”.

Source: Jasmine Sussex wins appeal in trans lactation vilification case | The Australian