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May 18th, 2011
05:33 PM ET
SF to vote on male circumcision in NovemberSan Francisco voters will decide whether to ban male circumcision in the November 8 municipal election. Activists gathered enough signatures to put a proposal on the ballot, the city's election board confirmed Wednesday. The measure aims to prohibit all male circumcisions in San Francisco. Led by Lloyd Schofield who is part of a Bay Area “intactivist” group, the advocates want to eliminate the surgery and liken it to "male genital mutilation." Schofield and the "intactivists" seek to make it "unlawful to circumcise, excise, cut, or mutilate the whole or any part of the foreskin, testicles, or penis" of anyone 17 or younger in San Francisco. Under the proposal, a person who violates the proposed ban could be jailed (not more than one year) or fined (not more than $1,000). Exemptions for religious reasons would not be allowed. Column: Circumcising our son– how do we decide? The measure faces huge hurdles: Legal, religious opposition and varying public opinion. It has brought up some interesting discussions about why we circumcise and whether there are any sound medical benefits. Empowered Patient: Should teens make their own circumcision decision? “We hope to get a greater outreach to the people in the city,” Schofield said Wednesday during a celebratory lunch. He said the activists would step up efforts to talk about the issue with residents. “We are willing and happy to talk to people who want a respectful conversation. We’re excited to do it.”
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Next up: a law requiring that everyone dress like Weezer, carry a beat-up messenger bag, ride a refurbished bike, listen to indie music, and eat food with no HFCS or wheat gluten, because that's the fad kick I'm on, and everyone needs to be like me, because it's not a fad, it's not a religion; it just the plain truth.
Another embarrassing moment for us normal residents of the City by the Bay.
If this is enacted it could have huge Pro-Life implications with how it will eventually play out in court.
Can California really be this stupid? Tax-payers are leaving the state in droves and San Francisco worries about this.
amen brother.
You can't remove the foreskin that's a no-no, but you can drive posts through the shaft and shove it up some other guys pooper, that's all normal and good fun. Gotta love SF.
I find it interesting how these gays "?inactivists" are so worried about little boys penises.
I'm sorry but this is one of the stupidest things I've seen brought up, closely followed by the Happy Meal Toy Ban.
It's a parent's decision, it's tradition in many religions, and even the religious-less often go with it because of the increased health benefits, most notably is the decreased chance of a UTI
Well, I find it interesting that they are bringing this up....
But, the girl in this picture needs to wash her hair.
Are they kidding? Tell me they are kidding. Tell me!!
A freak zone like SF, and this is what they come up with?
Are they going to tell women they can't get perms because it's mutilating the hair?
Are they going to tell fat people to lose weight because they are mutilating their body?
Are they....and a million more.
We should also be allowed to choose our own parents when we are 18, parents shouldn't be making ANY decisions for me because this is a free country and what I think as a 1 month old COUNTS dammit.
and wait, even though I am only a few hours old, I think I would rather listen to my own mom and dad than the 'inactivists'.
why are they saying anything at all about my wiener?
Don't forget the Euro-trendy rectangular glasses...
@Judy: She's probably a resident, and hasn't slept in 2 days... much less wash her hair! But she is kind of cute :-).
Uhm... wouldn't the Jews have something to say about this?
Umm, and Muslims too?
Yes, we would, as a matter of fact, and it doesn't include the fact that YBP is a bigoted idiot.
religious mutilation should not trump an individual's freedom to choose surgical procedures for themselves.
Cut your penis when your 18.Leave mine alone.Intact.Thank you Mom & Dad !
Here here, thank you mom and dad for not mutilating my penis. If a higher power wanted me to not have foreskin, then I would not have been born with foreskin.
Glad mine was done, first a penis without the foreskin looks better (according to at least 3 of the women I've dated in the past) and the decrease chance of a UTI and certain cancers is another boone.
Thanks mom for having the procedure done to me.
"If a higher power wanted me to not have foreskin, then I would not have been born with foreskin."
Hopefully you will develop appendicitis, and decide not to have your useless appendix removed. If you don't understand the reference, that's okay: you're an idiot, and tangential references do not compute.
Yes, and you should be allowed to choose your own name, too.
Until you're 18, you will be known only by your social security number.
Ryan, if a higher power wanted you to have a foreskin, why would this higher power allow a procedure to be done to get rid of it? If your higher power wanted you to get the flu, it wouldnt of invited flu shots. If your higher power wanted you to have metal in your teeth (fillings) then you would of been born with metal in your teeth.
@Shane: most women know better than to tell a man what they REALLY think about what his duck looks like.
@Jakes's Gay Lover: The appendix is not useless. It is now known to have an immunological function. It is also genetically linked to the intestine and if someone is born without one, they have worse gut deformities, but men can be born with the birth defect of no foreskin (aposthia) and they manage, so if the foreskin was the least bit harmful it would have been lost by natural selection eons ago.
If you don't like the name your parents gave you, you can change it, and many do, but if they cut your foreskin off, you can't get it back.
Phil: "If your higher power wanted you to get the flu, it wouldnt of invited flu shots." A true theologian!
What makes it ok to clip men and not women? And dont say it makes anal s3x safer.
Really??????????????????
Anal is both gross and wrong, anyway.
Any guy who puts his buddy "in there" should be charged with cruelty to animals.
What Moran came up with this. SF will just help the spread of genital disease.
What's a moran?
I wasn't aware cut men were immune to STIs. Oh, that's right, they're not. The decrease in the change of becoming infected is so minor it might as well not even be mentioned. You want to prevent STIs you wear a condom.
Not a moran. A maroon!
You are both MORONS for not knowing how to spell moron. Larry- moran is a last name. Aviator- maroon is a color!
'Maroon' is how it was said by Bugs Bunny to get past the censors.
To @ Larry & Aviator
What a maroon!
Evidently @, your mom keeps you in the basement away from TV and educational carttons i.e. Bugs Bunny. Now we know how unenlightened you are.
ha. moran.
anyone who doesnt know the reference to Maroon is, in fact a true moron.
not if you wear a condom.
If California is the land of fruits and nuts where are fruits in SF? Again, tha'st the Bushies with their unemployment rates nutisized the good dwellers of the City, or the virus was alaways there?
William it's only so minor as to not be mentioned when it contradicts your point. It is a proven fact nonetheless.
Something I totally agree with. It should be the individual's choice. Not the parents choice.
Pass a law that children are not allowed to be raised with any religion. They should be allowed to choose their religion at 18 and not be brainwashed their first 18 years.
---
He said the activists would step up efforts to talk about the issue with residents. “We are willing and happy to talk to people who want a respectful conversation. We’re excited to do it.”
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I have no desire to have any conversation with anyone who wishes to interfere with that kind of personal choice.
As far as I am concerned if those activists want to interfere , then I would have no problems with someone removing their vocal chords. Interference is interference, no matter how you 'slice' it!
Don't you find the "personal choice" statement to be just a little bit hypocritical? Since that's the whole point here.
Hypocritical? No, not at all. Right, that's their point . . . and I want my choice. I don't live in SF, but I would just leave the city limits to have my son cirucmised. No one can make a law telling me I can't follow my religious practices . . . that's the first amendment.
HIS body, HIS choice. (And nobody else is so directly involved, so you can leave abortion out of it.)
no one gives two licks about africa there not a part of the u.s. if its such a big dea to u maybe move to africa idiots smh this is ridiculous
Its not mutilation, and its not killing anything from them. Get a clue.
If it's not killing anything, then I invite you to wear a bag of freshly severed foreskins around your neck for a week.
This is a LOL, Im glad I do not fall under the jurisdiction of these freak show SF nazipoliciers. Sorry im glad my parents made a wise choose and gave me a good looking and clean genitalia.
Yeah, I'm glad your parents did make a wise choose.
I agree. I ike being uncut. It looks nice, it's easy to keep clean. I'm glad I didn't get hacked and chopped without my consent. If I ever change my mind the doc is just a phonecall away.
Seriously, don't you think you have a right to decide what is done to YOUR OWN body? Ban this barbaric act. This is America, why is it still legal here? I'm glad my parents respected my rights to make my own decision.
Seriously, you want to shove your's up some other guy's bum, go for it! You have no right to say what happens to mine (or my child's)!
@tiredodacrap – Actually the government does have the right to prevent mutilation of a child. If he wants it done he can get it done of his own free will. Genital mutilation of a non-consenting individual is absurd.
Do you have any minute idea of what happens when you're less than 10 days old? No. If you can show me a baby who knows exactly what is happening to him and will remember it when he gets older, as well as express those ideas, then please, go ahead.
murdering that same child a few months earlier is ok, though, right Brude?
Do you or they also support the ban on children having body parts peirced? I've seen infants with pierced ears and find that digusting. Are they coming out in favor of such a ban too? Probably not where their focus is, huh?
What a waste of time and taxpayer dollars....
Not really. Some people are trying to move this country forward.
Besides, we can't keep criticizing the people of the Near East for their backwards and barbaric cultral practices if we keep doing this to our kids.
Yes YBP, but you forget that people like this would rather "be right" than to advance ourselves as a culture / race
The terms liberal and progressive have nothing to do with moving forward. They're all about complaining, making a scene, and giving the facade that you're trying to do something grand that is in truth even more superficial than these stupid red necks you're looking down on with pure hatred. I went to Berkeley for a year, it was a complete hell hole filled with nothing but ignorance. No room for free though; your raison d'etre was to memorize and parrot dogma. I can say firsthand there is nothing enlightened about these Pelosi hatebots. And then most of these people who parrot the company line couldn't even get into San Jose St., but will tell you how much smarter they are because they are able to parrot things without thinking about them.
And now you know why the California budget is where it is.
Ahem, angry much?... maybe because you didn't fit in? Please. Have another drink.
We have no problem giving the parents a choice when it comes to life or death with abortion but its ok or even essential to take their choice away on this? hypocrite much?
Abortion involves a fetus that hasn't yet become self aware or fully developed. It's comparable to a fruit fly. Even less alive than a fruit fly. You can't compare a fetus to a baby that's been born. The two are immensely different.
Willaim – they can and do if that is all they can come up with
The birthcanal of life!!! What if it is a C-section of a premature baby? could we just throw it away?
Apples and oranges, guy. Learn how to argue intelligently.
William,
Could you be any stupider? Is a one day old child self aware? Go back to your hole.
William...that is such bogus crap. Fetus' do feel pain. Babies aren't fully developed yet either and certainly aren't fully self-aware. This just shows the hypocrisy of these people and your stupidity. I feel like its as much a stab at religion as anything. They don't really care about the welfare of babies. If they did, they would be inactivating against being able to stab scissors in the back of the neck of a baby as its being born. And I'm not an pro-life nazi, but this just resounds with hypocrisy and makes me want to vomit.
Are we getting nuts?…..all at www TheDimensionMachine DOT com
What? I thought this was going to be a site about how everyone is going mental (possible with over-exposure to other mental people via the web and tv). This site has nothing to do with that... I'm very disappointed.
The very fact we can all agree this is an elective procedure implies we should leave the decision up to the owner of the penis.
Well put.
Baptism is mentally traumatic. No dunking babies in water until they are 18. Let them choose when they are 18 if they want to be dunked.
Yes, and all children should be known by a generic number, until they are wise enough to choose their own name.
Actually banning it may save taxpayer dollars
Can we just pick San Francisco up and move it to Antartica?
No, but you're free to move there.
Idiot.
Or just build a big wall around it to keep the crazies (and their diseases) in.
Raise your kids the way you want and let me raise mine the way I want. Mind your own business. It's not abuse. It doesn't maim them or harm their future performance. I am so tired of people pushing their agendas on other people. I'm not telling you that you have to do it, respect my right to determine what's best for my son!
But if you think that cutting off pieces of your child is in their best interest then your "right to determine what is best" is suspect. Should we not step in and rescue children from people who do things that affect others because they think that they get to decide? Then we should have left that child with the mother who gave her botox... and that is ridiculous.
Please respect your son's rights to decide for himself!
Michelle, you are so off base on this that you shouldn't have kids. I can only imagine the other choices you make for them. Perhaps if you had a penis of your own, you would understand.
You are right Michelle, but freaks like YBP would rather have you abort your child a few weeks earlier, then have the choice to perform a harmless procedure a few days after his birth.
Obviously gay guys like sucking off the foreskin and docking, and if Timmy doesn't have his foreskin, Johnny has to move on to some little Phillipino boy.
Yes. What she said. ^
clearly it's ok to attack religion in this country...oh wait, it's not!! That's a violation of the 1st Amendment. Keep the government out of my Jewish traditions, or at least allow for religious exemptions! This is so absurd.
@Joshua.."But if you think that cutting off pieces of your child is in their best interest then your "right to determine what is best" is suspect. Should we not step in and rescue children from people who do things that affect others because they think that they get to decide? Then we should have left that child with the mother who gave her botox... and that is ridiculous."
If you really want to step in and rescue children, then start protesting abortions.
yours 8=>
mine 8======D
Why do Extremeist always want to mandate something for ALL of us? Maybe Lloyd Schofield is just mad that his mom and dad wacked off a peice of his "fireman"... and he just wants it back....
No, hacking off the baby's foreskin is an extremist act.
Don't tell me, anyone who doesn't agree with you is an Extremist, right?
I have seen both and personally would never be with an man who wasnt uncut yuck! .. ..just an aesthetic opinion and uncut penis looks gross.
And personally, I did circ my son and it wasnt my choice it was his father's... like father like son.
Sassy, the fact this is only an issue in SF and the "persuasion" of the guys in favor of this posting here shows you that the guys who want it to pass wouldn't be interested in a girl anyways.
Get a grip! No one is trying to "mandate" anything. It is being put before the voters and the majority rules. It is the way America is supposed to work. It is incredible to sit here and see how terrified conservatives are of just letting the people VOTE. If the people do not support it, it will fail. If the people support it, it will become law. Where is the "mandate?"
It's no skin off my..............
They have to skin the penis of male babies at birth. What guy would choose to have part of his penis hacked away to appease a God who didn't bother doing it in the creative process?
Religion makes people do some crazy things, but this really takes the cake.
That same idiot of a god that you worship put a worthless appendix inside your abdomen. Hopefully, if it becomes inflamed, you will stick to your guns and simply live with it, instead of having it removed.
Wow, neither of you get sarcasm.
While we're at it please ban tattoos and body piercing
The EQUIVALENT would be to ban them on people under 18 (after all, they are not trying to ban snipping the tip completely), just on babies. And I think people SHOULD wait till 18 (ok, MAYBE 16) to have tattoos and piercings.
Agreed. No piercings or tattoos until the age of 18. No tanning either.
It is a proud tradition in my family to mutilate the genitals of baby boys.
But we are horrified about families whose tradition is to mutilate the genitals of baby girls.
Why cannot people see my family is good, and the other families are bad?
What is fn wrong with you ppl?
Showers! We have them. Problem solved. No surgery needed.
This is the most ridiculous story I've read in a long time. What right does any level of government government have to regulate a voluntary medical procedure. Women don't want the government controlling their reproductive rights so how would this be any different? No More Big Brother!
You are right, voluntary. So if the baby can write a 100 word essay on how they want to have the procedure done then they should be allowed... oh wait.. you meant voluntary in the sense that the Parents VOLUNTEER for the baby... well.. that doesn't really seem voluntary now does it?
Voluntary? Is it voluntary for the baby? Also...what about medical mistakes? They do happen. Then your son will really love you for having him mutilated.
Joshua and Bruce are gay. LOL
@ Bruce – How the heck it mutilation? My penis is still there and can F you're mother just as well as any of her other clients.
Ahh yes. I remember it well – my first words upon entry, "Don't tase me Bro!"
My guess is that many of those opposed to this legislation also support a ban on abortion. Protect the rights of a fetus, but carve up a newborn baby before it has chosen its religion or aesthetics of its genitalia? I don't know...
Which is more relevant, your "guess" or the right of the people to hold an election in which they can state their desires? You have absolutely no basis for presuming the other political beliefs of these voters than I do yours. My guess is that you are pro-war, anti-obama, anti-health care reform and against paying taxes. I bet I am right on all counts but do you think I should base my comments on what I "guess" about your voting patterns/
Lets see, get cut, and be cleaner when it comes to personal genital hygiene, or be uncut and grow some moldy cheese????
Uh, do you have access to a shower? That's all you need. No need for surgery, just a shower daily.
You know that even in the desert people in the army who aren't cut can keep theirs clean. Urine can cleanse the area under the foreskin when you're taking a leak. But you wouldn't know that, because you don't know a single thing about the human penis other than that you like to stick it in things.
LOL I believe the scientific term is bacteriallis smegmalicious.
It will never withstand a First Amendment challenge.
If you think about it...it should be about the baby's first amendment rights....NOT the parents. The baby deserves a choice. The baby can chose if he wants to be religious when older....he should be able to choose what body parts get removed as well. So parents doing it in the name of religion is just plain silly cuz your son may grow up to believe something other than what you want him to.
@ Bruce. I'm assuming you are liberal simpleton. So how the heck can one argue for the rights of a baby's choice for foreskin, yet let the parents have the choice to terminate their own child in the womb? I really hope a virus targets and wipes liberals of the face of this planet.
This is exactly what is wrong with SF. Everyone thinks they are right and wants everyone else to know it. And I live here. So tired of it. Can't believe that this law is what our politicians and activists are spending their time on. This is the biggest problem they could address?
Everything I believe in tells me this practice is silly, of religious origin, and that it should probably cease to be. And yet, I'm rather pleased with my cut member. I like having a big, pink apple rather than a meat sheath (no offense to the uncut).
No offense taken. I'm uncut, and I don't deny that cut members look far more imposing, but I'm rather attached to my skin. The real problem I have is that I like mine, and you're happier without yours. If we ban this practice for minors then we all get what we want. At 18 (earlier IMO) you get your menacing manly meat stick and I get what I want. Win/win.
I agree with you Perfect...a uncut penis is an ugly penis. Sorry uncuts but it's true.
LOL!
This is an excellent idea. Let's end the cruel mutilation to boys who have no choice in the matter. I love it.
I'd only agree with this if the ban murdering your children when they're in the womb. Baby has a choice on his foreskin yet not his own life? I think the liberals have it backwards.
Doesn't the writer mean "intactivist" (not inactivist)? I agree that its a personal choice ... and not one your parents or your doctor should make for you!
We have showers these days. Teach your kids how to clean their parts and that should be sufficient. I always wondered why a parent would let someone genitally mutilate their baby if they weren't Jewish. Seems very barbaric to me. The Saudis still mutilate their daughters to make them 'clean'. I've heard the same argument for doing this to baby boys. Sick and very twisted.
It's barbaric no matter who does it. Don't give anyone a free pass on this.
It seems more barbaric to let the baby have a foreskin. I mean they make your penis smell bad and create a great environment for bacteria colonies. Whats next? Open heart surgery being barbaric? What about abortion? Thats the most barbaric practice I have ever heard of!!!
Save the ceremonies for the anal enlargement therapy, next on the city leaders agenda.
Some rabbis do it with their teeth...some pass on STDs to their innocent newborn victims. True story. Look into.
Very old practice . . . not done anymore.
apparently SF needs to be terminated and fined for existing!!!!!!
The foreskin became obsolete with the advent of clothing.
Actually clothing rubbing against the glans of a freshly cut man can actually cause it to bleed. It has to toughen up to even withstand the rigors of everyday life. So no, it's not obsolete. Besides, it has more uses than just protection. Every girl I've ever been with says handys are way easier and more fun.
And that's why you get it cut at birth dummy. I've never had my dick bleed from rubbing against my clothes.
Well I can see a lot of men in the future in SF not getting any head... LMAO!
Pure "Bay Area Buffoonery". It will never pass. You can't tell people what to do like that. It's scary that they got enough signatures to get it on a ballot. Who are these people? I sure as hell don't know any.
I think the author meant "intactivists," as in "intact boys"
Hey, San Francisco: How about you guys vote on something worthwhile and fix your city's traffic problems and roads?
Maybe they could do something about the homeless people instead.
being uncut leads to bullying and embarressment as a teen and in bed. studies show this. im glad my parents chose to have it done
OMG you're so stupid!
Go to Europe please and see who's bullying whom.
IDIOT!
I'd say Europe is decades behind the US. So I wouldn't use them as an example.
This is just the tip of the ice-burg.
Excuse me if this has been mentioned, I didn't have time to read every comment, but would that mean they can no longer perform abortions? (on male babies, at least)?
No because Liberals have little value for life. They just enjoy making Americans miserable.
i had it done and i'm not so bad off. i'll be fine as long as those terrible memories never resurface of me getting my junk nipped with no anesthesia. yeeeeouch.
It should be personal choice of an adult. It should be banned for kids unless it is required for medical reason. I am really against religious reasons.
You raise your children your way, and I'll raise mine my way. Get the hell outta my house!
I wonder how many of those activists have young daughters with pierced ears...
I wonder if they have a position on abortion.
Wait a minute....4 months before it was OK to kill this baby. But now we've got to protect their rights to declining a surgery!? This is simply an assault on religion. Nothing more.
I agree. Religious beliefs are stupid and should be assaulted until people are embarrassed to speak about them in public.
woo, let me quote your side on numerous other issues: "stop trying to legislate your beliefs on me."
Grag, quote no morons, it only encourages then. Woo should have been aborted, then we dont have to listen to him. Parents make bad choice. World better without woo. How am i doing so far woozy? Like my choices?
Well said.