There been a lot in the news recently about a topic that usually isn’t discussed in polite company.
“Intactivists” in the City of San Francisco have collected enough signatures to place an initiative on the November ballot to ban circumcision. The measure, if passed, would prohibit circumcision on males under the age of 18. The practice would become a misdemeanor offense carrying a punishment of up to $1,000 fine and up to one year in jail. There is no exemption allowed for those who practice circumcision for religious reasons.
The Jewish community has already stepped forward and labeled the ballot measure as religious discrimination and a clear violation of constitutionally protected religious freedoms. “For a city that’s renowned for being progressive and open-minded, to even have to consider such an intolerant proposition…it sets a dangerous precedent,” said Rabbi Gil Yosef Leeds of the City of Berkley.
Estimates are that approximately 80 percent of all men in the U.S. have been circumcised. We at UFI have long been aware of the benefits of circumcision in the fight against the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Circumcision has also been found to be effective in reducing the incidence of penile cancer and urinary tract infections in the male as well as in their sexual partners.
But let’s return to the Rabbi’s comment about the “progressives” in the open-minded and tolerant city of San Francisco. These very same people would never oppose adolescents tattooing their bodies from top to bottom, nor would they oppose adolescents putting huge extenders in their earlobes, nor inserting large amounts of silicon in strategic places. My guess is that they have no problem with the freakish Lady Gage look of implants that distort faces and shoulders. But circumcision – no way!
So called “progressives” are the first to state that government shouldn’t be able to tell them what to do with their bodies or how about this one: “Keep the government out of my bedroom!” Seems they need a taste of their own medicine. For San Franciscans opposing this ban, here’s a slogan suggestion: “Keep the government out of my children’s pants.”