Changes

Throughout history, circumcision has been a sensitive subject. The debate over whether to cut flared most recently during the summer of 2011, when a group of activists (“[[intactivists]]”) collected more than 11,000 signatures to propose a measure to ban circumcision in San Francisco. The initiative would have made the practice a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and up to one year in jail. It offered no exemptions for religious customs. The proposed ban outraged Muslim and Jewish communities alike, uniting them around a proposal to protect their right to perform a ritual they have observed for millennia. While the measure failed to make the ballot, it ignited many conversations on a subject rarely addressed.