Santa Monica Circumcision Ban Proposed As Ballot Initiative

[maiforpeace]

Santa Monica residents may be voting on circumcision in their November 2012 ballot, according to the LA Times.

The MGM Bill (Male Genital Mutilation bill), an organization dedicated to placing circumcision bans on ballots across the country, has just proposed an initiative in Santa Monica that would ban the procedure on males under the age of 18. Female circumcision, or what most call female genital mutilation, is already outlawed in California and the United States.

This same organization has successfully proposed a circumcision ban in San Francisco, which means the initiative will appear on the city's ballot for an upcoming vote this fall. Lloyd Schofield, a San Francisco resident who is leading the charge to ban the minor surgery in his city, told the Associated Press, "Parents are really guardians, and guardians have to do what's in the best interest of the child. It's his body. It's his choice."

Neither the San Francisco nor the Santa Monica proposals contain an exception for religious reasons, which for some transforms the ban into a First Amendment issue. David Lehrer, a Jewish leader, told the LA Times that "It takes the notion of the Mommy State to a ridiculous extreme. It probably touches upon being anti-Semitic." But others in the Jewish community are using the proposal as an opportunity to openly discuss the ambivalence and feelings of conflict that many Jewish parents have when they decide to circumcise their sons. Rabbi Brad Hirschfield recently penned an op-ed in the Jewish Journal in reaction to the Santa Monica initiative. Hirschfield confessed that after the birth of his three daughters, he felt "a certain inchoate sense of relief at being spared the obligation to circumcise them eight days later."

[charlou]

This is a very good thing.

Interesting comment regarding 'the jewish community' taking the proposed legislation as a catalyst for questioning (and hopefully changing) their attitude about a long established religious practice, but if that really is the case, whatever works.

[maiforpeace]

This is a very good thing.

Interesting comment regarding 'the jewish community' taking the proposed legislation as a catalyst for questioning (and hopefully changing) their attitude about a long established religious practice, but if that really is the case, whatever works.

Santa Monica and the surrounding environs are strongly Jewish too.

[FBM]

Yes, let's please stop slicing up the children....

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Santa Monica residents may be voting on circumcision in their November 2012 ballot, according to the LA Times.

The MGM Bill (Male Genital Mutilation bill), an organization dedicated to placing circumcision bans on ballots across the country, has just proposed an initiative in Santa Monica that would ban the procedure on males under the age of 18. Female circumcision, or what most call female genital mutilation, is already outlawed in California and the United States.

This same organization has successfully proposed a circumcision ban in San Francisco, which means the initiative will appear on the city's ballot for an upcoming vote this fall. Lloyd Schofield, a San Francisco resident who is leading the charge to ban the minor surgery in his city, told the Associated Press, "Parents are really guardians, and guardians have to do what's in the best interest of the child. It's his body. It's his choice."

Neither the San Francisco nor the Santa Monica proposals contain an exception for religious reasons, which for some transforms the ban into a First Amendment issue. David Lehrer, a Jewish leader, told the LA Times that "It takes the notion of the Mommy State to a ridiculous extreme. It probably touches upon being anti-Semitic." But others in the Jewish community are using the proposal as an opportunity to openly discuss the ambivalence and feelings of conflict that many Jewish parents have when they decide to circumcise their sons. Rabbi Brad Hirschfield recently penned an op-ed in the Jewish Journal in reaction to the Santa Monica initiative. Hirschfield confessed that after the birth of his three daughters, he felt "a certain inchoate sense of relief at being spared the obligation to circumcise them eight days later."

Thanks for the tip, Mai.

[charlou]

Better than a tip-off, that's for sure

[rachelbean]

David Lehrer, a Jewish leader, told the LA Times that "It takes the notion of the Mommy State to a ridiculous extreme. It probably touches upon being anti-Semitic."

Ridiculous. Yes, forbidding parents to chop off part of their children is a mommy state and anti-semetic. Next thing you know they'll stop allowing you to sacrifice your first born on an altar

[borealis]

David Lehrer, a Jewish leader, told the LA Times that "It takes the notion of the Mommy State to a ridiculous extreme. It probably touches upon being anti-Semitic."

Ridiculous. Yes, forbidding parents to chop off part of their children is a mommy state and anti-semetic. Next thing you know they'll stop allowing you to sacrifice your first born on an altar

[mistermack]

Aha, now I see.

I was confused the other day, I passed a synagogue and there was a little boy crying on the steps. I asked him what was wrong, and he said that someone had nicked his pullover.

[Ronja]

David Lehrer, a Jewish leader, told the LA Times that "It takes the notion of the Mommy State to a ridiculous extreme. It probably touches upon being anti-Semitic."

Ridiculous. Yes, forbidding parents to chop off part of their children is a mommy state and anti-semetic. Next thing you know they'll stop allowing you to sacrifice your first born on an altar

+ a million

Relatedly: I ended up unfriending a guy on FB who simply went ballistics when some other FB friends commented on some link I posted about circumcision. He insisted that calling circumcision "barbaric", "disgusting" or "mutilation" was a personal attack on him, because he has been circumcised and is quite happy with it.

[Svartalf]

Santa Monica? I thought an MGM bill would be from Hollywood.

[Feck]

Did you hear about the Rabbi ...he slipped and got the sack .

[rachelbean]

Santa Monica? I thought an MGM bill would be from Hollywood.

There is no Hollywood technically, it's just Los Angeles. Unless you meant West Hollywood (trying to make a gay joke?), I believe that's actually considered a city.

[Svartalf]

No gay jokes from me, just an MGM one...

[rachelbean]

No gay jokes from me, just an MGM one...

I'm a little slow sometimes