NBCC Pride Month Celebration

​The U.S. Breastfeeding Committee hosted the 2024 National Breastfeeding Conference & Convening Monday, June 3, through Wednesday June 5. The theme, Inspiring Change, Embracing Inclusion, and Impacting Communities, guided this year's selection of learning and networking opportunities. Experts and leaders from across the First Food field came together for this singular event to catalyze policy and systems-level changes to better support breastfeeding and human milk feeding across the nation.

At the opening of the convening, USBC board member Petrichor Kneeland-Campbell delivered a moving celebration of Pride Month, connecting this important observance to the work of the lactation field and reflecting on their own lactation journey. Thank you, Petrichor, for grounding us and inspiring our collective power to keep working toward more equitable systems and policies!

Below is a transcript of Petrichor's address.*

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Petrichor Kneeland-Campbell
USBC Elected Director

Hello everyone! Welcome to the 2024 NBCC! I am so happy to have all of you here, and hope you will learn a lot over the next few days. My name is Petrichor Kneeland-Campbell, and I am an Elected Director on the USBC Board, as well as the President and DEIJB Chair for the Maine State Breastfeeding Coalition. I live on the unceded land of the Penobscot Nation in the Wabanaki Confederacy in Bangor, Maine.

June 1st marked the start of Pride Month. While many of us in the 2SLGTBQIA+ community celebrate our identities year round, Pride is a time for us to come together and celebrate our collective joys, and invite those not in the community to celebrate with us. It is a time for fun, for laughs, and also a time to remember those we have lost and the history of where we come from. 

When I think about my time in this field as a transgender and queer individual, I think about how far it has come in the short time I have been in it. I first got into the lactation field in 2018, while chestfeeding my fourth baby. Very little, if anything, I read or saw about lactation was inclusive of queer families. There weren't many providers that specialized in or even knew how to help these families, and there weren't many trainings specifically about how to support them. I didn’t see myself in the literature or social media posts. And all the groups on social media had a lot of posts starting with “hey ladies!” 

In my 6 years in this field, I have been fighting alongside those who have been fighting for much longer than that for inclusion of queer families. We've done this while facing violence and harm from those who don't feel the same. I have met some incredible humans along the way, people I wouldn't have known otherwise. Some I call family now. I have seen changes happening in lactation spaces. I see more terms being used, I am seeing more research come out regarding transgender lactation in particular, I am seeing more trainings being offered that focus on 2SLGBTQIA+ lactation. I am seeing more lactation providers from the community, who are helping to drive those changes. There are organizations like Birthing Advocacy, which is Black and queer led that now provide inclusive lactation educator trainings in addition to their inclusive doula trainings. Or Liam Kali, who gives continuing education specific to helping queer and trans families. And I am the first openly transgender board member of USBC. That is truly an accomplishment for the organization, and the field in general. Certainly, all of this is something to celebrate during this conference and this Pride month.

These changes, while certainly met with some pushback, tell me that there are providers who do want to celebrate with us. There are providers who want to learn and who understand the value in including everyone in their lactation practice. While sometimes I can get discouraged and frustrated with setbacks, I celebrate every win. Because every win is one step closer to equitable care for all families.

So celebrate with me this Pride month. Celebrate with your trans and Two Spirit friends, your bi and pan friends, your gay, lesbian, and queer friends, your ace and aro friends, and all those friends who identify as being under the rainbow. And hold space for those who can't be out for whatever reason, because you don't have to be loud to be proud. But also remember that the first Pride was a riot, and though we have had some wins in the lactation field in terms of advancing equity and inclusion, we are not done yet. We will continue to fight, and continue to share our joy with every win. Happy Pride Month to my community!

*The opinions included in this blog are from the writer, and should not be perceived as a position statement from the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee. 

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In recognition of this call to action, the USBC invites those who would like to participate in or support the facilitation of identity caucus groups to complete the interest form. ​Identity Caucuses are safe spaces to establish and nurture connections among people who have a shared identity. We all have a role to play in eliminating disparities in access to lactation-supportive policies, systems, and environments, but our individual identities impact how we experience inequities and the work we must do to address them. While we engage in this important work to advance equity in the First Food field, it's important to have a soft space to land, strategize, and be in community with others with whom you share an identity.