CALIFORNIA BANS CIRCUMCISION BAN

Previously I posted ‘Only In San Fransicko’ (5-28-11) and ‘Finally, Something Jews And Muslims Agree On (6-25-11) about a San Francisco ballot measure that, if passed, would ban circumcisions in that city. The proposed measure had strong anti-Semitic overtones – its advocates distributed comic books depicting caricatures of Jews the same way the Nazis did and the Arabs still do.

Last July, attorneys for the City of San Francisco put the city on record as being opposed to a circumcision ban. As evidence that the proposed ban "specifically targets the centuries-old Jewish religious practice known as brit milah," the city's attorneys cited virulently anti-semitic comic books and cards distributed by the measure's proponents that "portray the battle against circumcision as one between good, represented by a blonde, blue-eyed superhero and his fair-skinned female friend, and evil, represented by four dark-haired, dark-skinned menacing Jewish characters with prominent noses, sinister expressions and sadistic tendencies."

Now Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a law prohibiting any municipal or county government in California from banning circumcisions. It would appear that every once in a while Gov. Moonbeam gets it right.

NEW CALIFORNIA LAW BRINGS END TO PROPOSED CIRCUMCISION BAN
New bill signed by California Governor Jerry Brown prevents local governments from banning male circumcision.

By Elad Benari

IsraelNationalNews.com
October 3, 2011

California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Sunday a bill that prevents local governments from banning the practice of male circumcision, CNN’s website reported.

The legislation came in response to an effort this summer by a San Francisco Bay Area advocacy group to get a measure proposing a citywide ban added to the November 8 city ballot.

Lloyd Schofield, 59 year old anti-circumcision activist, was determined to have male circumcision banned by legislation in San Francisco. He gathered 12,000 signatures of support that would ensure that his proposal would be placed on the ballot.

The measure, which was to apply only in San Francisco, was intended make it a crime to circumcise a minor, regardless of the parents' religious beliefs. The maximum penalty would be a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The ban’s campaign material included anti-Semitic comic books depicting a Jewish mohel, or circumcision practitioner, as the sinister villain "Foreskin Man", in the inimitable style of the Protocol of the Elders of Zion and the Nazi Der Sturmer.

The move was met with criticism by rabbis, doctors, and others who oppose the idea to ban circumcision, with the doctors citing its benefits in preventing infection and the spread of AIDS.

In July, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Loretta Giorgi issued a tentative ruling which said the proposed ballot measure to ban circumcision in the city must be withdrawn, calling it “expressly preempted” by state law.

Judge Giorgi said that the California Business and Professions Code prohibits local regulation of medical procedures, adding that it "serves no legitimate purpose" for an illegal measure to remain on the ballot and ordering elections Chief John Arntz to remove it.

According to CNN, the legislation signed by Gov. Brown on Sunday, which takes effect immediately, prohibits governments at the local or county level from “restricting the practice of male circumcision” and “declares that the laws affecting male circumcision must have uniform application throughout the state.”