Friday, July 29, 2011

SF Circumcision Bill Cut Off By Court

In the topsy-turvy world of San Francisco, almost any silly idea can be put on the ballot. Most recently, the Board of Stupidvisors decided it would be a very good thing to ban circumcision. After the Board received sufficient signatures to place the measure on the November ballot, Superior Court Judge Loretta M. Giorgi has cut it off.

Judge Giorgi shorted everyone by avoiding the religious issue entirely. Her ruling hangs on the California Business and Professions Code, which says that commonly-accepted medical procedures are the sole province of the state, and no municipality may pass an ordinance which conflicts with the state law. She concluded that "the evidence presented is overwhelmingly persuasive that circumcision is a widely practiced medical procedure." Therefore, banning the procedure at the municipal level is expressly preempted by the State Code.

Proponents of the ban had argued that circumcision is akin to male genital mutilation, regardless of what millions of Muslims and Jews might think. The fact that a substantial majority of American physicians consider the procedure efficacious and routine also did not deter the zealots. A group of doctors who think the banners should not be allowed to determine the proper ends of others, along with a coalition of Jews that claimed the ban was anti-Semitic filed suit to stop the proposed ordinance from reaching the ballot.

Georgi sliced up the officious intermeddlers' arguments by ruling on the Business and Professions Code grounds, saying: "It serves no legitimate purpose to allow a measure whose invalidity can be determined as a matter of law to remain on the ballot after such a ruling has been made." Those San Franciscans who believe that circumcision is the "most unkindest cut of all" [hat tip to Bill Shakespeare] will either have to seek a reversal of the judge's order at a higher level, or try to convince the entire population of the state to change the law. A similar ballot measure is pending in the City of Santa Monica, and the San Francisco judge's decision has no validity in the Superior Court of that district. So a separate ruling there might conflict with the one in San Francisco.

The responses to the ruling at the online versions of the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times fell basically into two camps. First, there were those who supported the judge's ruling, telling the banners to keep their hands off the private business of others. Second, there were the hysterics who apparently didn't understand either the proposed ordinance or the judge's ruling. One commenter said "let's circumcise the judge, and see how she likes it." Aside from the fact that female genital mutilation is a barbaric practice performed only in certain Muslim sects, and has no medical support whatsoever, it is equally important to note that the ordinance only addressed male circumcision. Another simply demanded "equality for circumcision."

Well, that's about it. So I'm going to cut this short.

15 comments:

T-Rav said...

"let's circumcise the judge, and see how she likes it." Yeah, that sounds like a logical rebuttal.

Koshcat said...

I would be willing to bet a steak dinner that the same people putting forth the circumcision bill would also roll around in the streets in hysterics if the city tried to ban abortions.

Joel Farnham said...

"To cut or not to cut,
Tis the question of the day,
Whether it is nobler in the mind to..."

I just couldn't finish it. Couldn't finish it.

Can someone help me out?

Tennessee Jed said...

There are no liberals quite like San Francisco liberals when it comes to sticking their, what, noses(?) into other people's business. Whether or not this judge's reasoning was right or wrong, at least she did the right thing.

Judge Giorgi (a hoot in and of itself-- hey there Giorgi Judge . . . ) "shorted" everybody and "cut it off." Her ruling "hangs" on the Business and Professions Code. Determine the"proper ends" of others . . . ;-)))

Oh you feisty old man (l.o.l.)

AndrewPrice said...

I'm glad they're dealing with important issues in San Francisco these days. I would hate to think they were wasting their time solving their budget and jobs crises.

** rolls eyes **

Unknown said...

T-Rav: Nobody said the anti-cutters were very bright. Just doctrinaire, and antisemitic. Unfortunately for their cause, they forgot that Muslims practice male circumcision as well, and they might not be as tolerant as the Jews of dissenting opinions.

Unknown said...

Koshcat: I'm sure the membership roles are pretty much identical. One way to make sure there are no circumcisions is to make sure there are no babies.

Unknown said...

Joel: Not me, I found myself doing the same thing.

Unknown said...

Tennessee: I think the judge was on solid ground and left nothing hanging. This nonsense will not extend outside of the people's republics of San Francisco and Santa Monica, so if the ruling holds, the state is never going to pass such a bill.

I know, I've been a bad, bad person.

Unknown said...

Andrew: What a spoilsport. If they had to deal with real issues their heads would explode. My favorite San Francisco organization was Food Not Bombs. I didn't even know San Francisco had an air force.

Unknown said...

Tennessee: I will get my revenge somewhere along the line. I can't stop humming "Hey, there, Georgi Judge." And now I'm trying to come up with the rest of the words. LOL

Ed said...

San Francisco is just one messed up place. It's like a carnival of idiocy.

Unknown said...

Ed: It's funny. I always knew San Francisco was off-kilter (hence my SF Diary--Journal of an Exile). But even knowing that, it took the perspective of living for a year in small-town rural America to realize just how wildly crazy and out-of-sync that city really is. I think you were kind calling it a carnival of idiocy. LOL

Game Master Rob Adams said...

"Send me your unwashed masses, your circumcised your San Franciscans"

Unknown said...

ACG: Should I add "your sexually-confused and your drug-addled?"

This initiative was just the tip of the iceberg. Help, stop me before I do that again!

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