Bay Area Intactivists

Members of Bay Area Intactivists traveled to Santa Cruz, California last Sunday for the Diversity Centers's annual GLBT Pride Parade. As they made their way along Pacific Avenue carrying signs such as "Foreskin: The ultimate health coverage" and "My genitals, my property", the intactivists managed to pick up additional marchers including one young mother with her son in-hand. There was an abundance of cheers for Bay Area Intactivists as their familiar orange bracelets and literature were dispersed to the lively crowd.

Last Saturday, members of Bay Area Intactivists spent the day educating expectant parents and birth support providers at the Bay Area Birth Information fair in San Jose, California. Throughout the day, intactivists received praise from fellow vendors, Meet BABI organizers, and event attendees for their work to end non-therapeutic, infant and child circumcision.

The Bay Area Intactivists table turned out to be a hit among Bay Area Birth Justice Fair attendees last Saturday in Oakland. In keeping with the fair's focus on maternal and infant mortality, the intactivist table featured the names of children who had died as a result of circumcision. The half dozen intactivists who were outfitted in shirts proclaiming the human right to genital integrity were hard to miss as they circulated throughout the fair which was held at the Uhuru House.

Last summer San Francisco intactivists made international headlines when they introduced the San Francisco Male Genital Mutilation Bill, a ballot initiative to safeguard sexual and religious freedom by protecting boys from non-consensual circumcision. In a move to stall this effort, California state Senator Mark Leno co-authored AB 768, a bill which forbids any city or county in California from "[restricting] the practice of male circumcision, or the exercise of a parent's authority to have a child circumcised." His cutting crusade is beginning to attract a backlash from human rights advocates who view the Senator's actions as an attack on men's genital autonomy.

On Wednesday, March 21, 2012 authors Daniel Halperin and Craig Timberg arrived at Book Passage in Corte Madera as part of a promotional tour for their new book Tinderbox. But instead of encountering praise and autograph requests, they were met with protesters from the group Bay Area Intactivists who condemned the authors for using Tinderbox to extol male circumcision.

On Saturday, January 21, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California held a Pro-Choice Brunch at the United Methodist Church in Santa Cruz to commemorate the struggle for women's right to reproductive freedom. In response to the ACLU's recent attack on men's right to decide the fate of their own genitals, Bay Area Intactivists held a Rally for Gender Equality outside the United Methodist Church during the course of the ACLU brunch.

"If the rights of society's most vulnerable members are denied, everybody's rights are imperiled."
—American Civil Liberties Union

Senator Mark Leno, Senator Leland Yee, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, and Supervisor John Avalos all worked to deny equal protection to genital integrity and sexual freedom for men through their opposition of the San Francisco Male Genital Mutilation Bill.