'Intactivists' Use Ugly Propaganda For Circumcision Ban

Those of us living in Silicon Valley have become accustomed to the alternative laws of the Bay Area. Take away our plastic bags and smoking in public and we’re happy to comply, but now there’s a new ban on the horizon and it’s got locals and folks all around the country in a tizzy. It’s the circumcision ban, proposed by MGM Bill, a San Diego-based advocacy group, and it would make the performance of circumcision illegal on males under 18.

A shared belief among the larger monotheistic religions in this world (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) is the covenant that God made with Abraham. In this covenant, when Jews became the chosen people, God gave the responsibility to all Jewish men to ensure the circumcisions of their sons. As such, for thousands of years, Jews and Muslims (as well as other religious and non-religious individuals) have circumcised their boys.

In Judaism, baby boys are circumcised on the eighth day after their birth. It is a ritual performed most often in synagogues and homes, a large celebration with friends and family, as the child is welcomed into the Jewish faith. The ritual is performed by a mohel, a rabbi that has been specially trained in brit milah (circumcision.) These rabbis are often solely employed for this purpose and can do upwards of 15,000 circumcisions in a career.

The bill being proposed in San Francisco threatens the practice of this religious act and the passing of such a proposal would violate our First Amendment rights. While the MGM (male genital mutilation) Bill makes the argument that circumcision is an act of mutilation, circumcision is an age-old ritual that is performed by members of both the religious and medical communities. Arguments for circumcision go beyond religious and ritual and include hygienic benefits as well as statistics showing that the spreading of sexually transmitted disease is greatly inhibited by circumcision.

In an era when we are focusing more and more on the “natural” things in life (organic foods, simplicity, etc.) it is not surprising that there is a group dedicated to the idea of keeping the male genitals “intact.” The issue at hand is not the choice to remain uncircumcised, but rather the threat such a law would pose on religious practice and the means by which proponents of the bill are propagating the idea.

The MGM Bill has released a series of extremely anti-Semitic comics exhibiting Jewish characters as villains in an attempt to demonize the practice of circumcision. The disgusting imagery put forth is comparable to that of Nazi propaganda and makes the entire MGM organization seem narrow-minded and bigoted at best.

In response to the bill, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco and number of Jewish and Muslim individuals filed suit this week, saying San Francisco would have no power to enforce the ban. The ADL's release urges a judge to strike down the proposal before November, in order to "spare the city and its residents from wasting resources debating and voting on an ordinance that cannot become law."

The only seemingly positive outcome of the MGM proposal is the united front it has forced Jews and Muslims to take. Together we will all work to ensure religious freedom. My hope is that the undignified ways in which the bill presents itself will be its own demise.