A Victorian breastfeeding expert is defending herself against a vilification claim in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal after publicly stating that men can’t breastfeed.

Jasmine Sussex is a former Australian Breastfeeding Association counsellor with fifteen years’ experience. She is defending herself against a vilification claim brought by a man who identifies as a woman named Jennifer Buckley, who has taken issue with Jasmine’s comments about men breastfeeding.

Buckley shared publicly on his social media account that he was taking ‘domperidone’, a drug that induces lactation, so that he could have the experience of breastfeeding his newborn child. 

Jasmine responded to the comments, saying:

“This is Buckley’s delusional queer theory take on his experience “breastfeeding”.

Buckley is alleging that Ms Sussex’s online comments amount to vilification, saying that they were ‘hurtful’.

Jasmine is adamant that she won’t be silenced on this issue, saying that the “complaint attempts to scrub from the public record my mainstream concerns and criticisms about male breastfeeding”.

Speaking to Peta Credlin on Sky News, Jasmine expressed her surprise at the complaint:

“I have no relationship with this man, and he’s been campaigning online for years, literally since he transitioned, to normalise this practice of transwomen trying to induce lactation and so it took the Queensland Human Rights Commission a long time to process his complaint so I thought that he was accepting that there are different views in the community, but obviously not”.

Jasmine is unapologetic about speaking the truth on this issue, saying:

“Breastfeeding belongs exclusively to mothers and our babies.”

“We are the only humans who can make breast milk to nourish our babies.”

In addition to the vilification claim, Jasmine was initially subject to censorship at the hands of the Australian government, who contacted X (formerly Twitter) to demand that her comments about male breastfeeding be removed, as ‘they had broken the law’. HRLA client and Canadian activist Chris Elston (“Billboard Chris”) similarly had tweets challenging gender ideology removed at the direction of the Australian government.

The ability to speak freely is the cornerstone of a healthy society, which depends on maintaining a public square that is free and open for robust debate and the fair exchange of ideas. Issues that concern child safeguarding as well as emerging ideas about gender ideology are matters of public interest, and should be open to public debate.

The claim brought against Jasmine is yet another instance of the vilification complaints process (which is itself a form of punishment) being used to silence opponents. Feeling offended or having ‘hurt feelings’ should not be enough to justify legal action against those who hold different opinions.

HRLA is providing Jasmine with legal assistance to oppose this complaint in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal and to defend her right to stand up for the sex-based rights of women. If you would like to support Jasmine, you can do so here. 

HRLA Principal Lawyer John Steenhof said:

“HRLA is representing Jasmine in her defence of the right to speak about her concerns with male breastfeeding.

Vilification laws are easily weaponised to silence free speech and suppress opposing views on contentious social issues.

Ordinary Australians like Jasmine Sussex should be free to speak openly about issues of public importance.

Jasmine’s case is important to defend not only for her, but for all Australians who want to speak publicly about the harms of gender ideology.”