A father has attacked a transgender charity for “meddling” in a dispute between him and his ex-wife over whether their five-year-old son should dress as a girl.

The two parents are currently locked in a bitter dispute over whether the child identifies as female, with the mother claiming he is transgender.

Her claim is being backed up by the controversial charity Mermaids, who allegedly told school staff they would break equality laws if they did not let the boy wear a girl’s uniform. The father accuses the group of “bullying” the school into submission.

He told the Daily Mail: “The school, at the beginning, were quite firm [with his ex-wife]. But then she started getting Mermaids involved. The school backed down completely.”

The father says his son does not express any desire to play with girls’ toys or wear female clothes when he spends weekends with him, but his ex-wife has dressed him as a girl since he was two-and-a-half.

The boy was diagnosed with gender dysphoria after his mother took him to see a psychoanalyst linked to Mermaids who has no clinical qualifications.

“If my son does decide he wants to be a girl, then that is fine by me – I am not old-fashioned, that doesn’t bother me,” the father said. “But at the moment, it just feels like it isn’t his decision.”

He also said the authorities were too scared to intervene in case they were accused of discrimination and transphobia, even though Mermaids appears to have little in the way of medical qualifications.

“My ex-wife just repeats what Mermaids are saying without much real understanding of the consequences. All Mermaids are is a support group with no medical training.”

Mermaids was formed in 1995 as a support group for parents of children affected by a variety of gender issues, but only became a registered charity last year.

The group runs workshops and has provided training for teachers, social services and the police.

Britain’s National Health Service even provides a link to the charity on its ‘NHS Choices’ website, while the Crown Prosecution Service consulted the group when drawing up guidelines on transgender issues.

Caroline Roberts, chairman of Mermaids, said it “provides information and resources for families and professionals in an area that is largely misunderstood.”

Breitbart London reported last week on the case of a supposedly transgender seven-year-old boy who quickly returned to normal after being removed from his mother’s care.

The High Court said he had suffered “significant emotional harm” after his mother forced him to live as a girl. The mother in that case had also been supported by Mermaids.

The judge condemned social workers for failing to intervene because they were in the thrall of “transgender equality”.

Mermaids called the ruling a “huge injustice”.