Group clad in white clothes and blood-stained groins protests in Logan

LOGAN – A small group of six men and one woman converged on the corner of 1400 North and Main Street in Logan Monday, generating a lot of curiosity and stares, in hopes of bringing awareness to the practice of circumcision.

A number of the men from the non-profit organization, Bloodstained Men & Their Friends, wore white clothing, stained with a red spot in the groin area.

It’s medically unethical to do this to a perfectly healthy boy to cut off part of his body,” according to spokesperson Harry Guiremand. “It’s an outdated practice done for fraudulent reasons.”

Guiremand and his group are on a 20 city tour of the mountain states. They spent a few hours in Logan and then it was off to Salt Lake City to wrap up the tour. He said the group has been around for about seven years and they try to visit 60 cities each year.

Members of the group carried large signs that read “Honk If You <heart> Foreskin” and “I Want My Foreskin Back.” They walked back and forth through the intersection and many people honked their horns and waived at them.

The organization is “dedicated to educating people about the harm of infant circumcision. It’s an unnecessary, traumatic, painful and injurious surgery that’s done without the consent of the patient,” explained Guiremand.

In a college town filled with students and young people, Guiremand says he is hoping to reach a younger generation “before they have kids, so they will know this is not something they should do to their boys,” he said.

Guiremand was aware he was in an area with a large “Mormon” population and attempted to quote “Mormon” scripture to back his assertions, but fell short of coming up with an exact scripture and verse.

The group was joined by Michael Vier from Boise. He took three days off from his work to support the effort.

Vier admitted he has been circumcised. “I felt very violated. I’ve been against it since I was young and figured out what it was,” he said.

There are a lot of men who feel very disfigured by it and who understand the damage that it does. The public needs to be aware of that and needs to consider it rather than take for granted that everyone’s okay with it,” said Vier.

According to the most recent statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics:

After a comprehensive review of the scientific evidence, the American Academy of Pediatrics found the health benefits of newborn male circumcision outweigh the risks, but the benefits are not great enough to recommend universal newborn circumcision. The AAP policy statement says the final decision should still be left to parents to make in the context of their religious, ethical and cultural beliefs.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

31 Comments

  • PJ July 29, 2019 at 3:33 pm Reply

    The AAP’s statement expired in September of 2017. The AAP’s expired statement was challenged in 2013 by doctors in Europe and Canada.

    “Cultural Bias in the AAP’s 2012 Technical Report and Policy Statement on Male Circumcision”, a response to the AAP’s 2012 position statement on male circumcision, and signed by 38 senior physicians, about half of them presidents or chairs of national pediatric or urological organizations.

    http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2013/03/12/peds.2012-2896

  • Mark Lyndon July 29, 2019 at 3:47 pm Reply

    Good for them! I’d pay a year’s salary rather than be circumcised. Why would I want the most sensitive and pleasurable parts cut off? That little bit of skin makes a big difference.

    Why don’t we just let everyone decide for themselves whether or not they want irreversible genital surgery? It’s their body after all.

    It’s not like it can’t wait. I think it’s only the USA (at around 60% and dropping) and Israel where more than half of baby boys are circumcised. Other countries circumcise, but not till anywhere from the age of seven to adolescence. Only about 12% of the world’s circumcised men were circumcised as babies. Around two thirds of the world’s men (88% of the world’s non-Muslim men) never get circumcised.

    Three national medical organizations (Iceland, Sweden and Germany) have called for infant male circumcision to be *banned*, and two others (Denmark and the Netherlands) have said they’d support a ban if they didn’t think it would drive the practice underground.

    “Routine” circumcision *is* banned in public hospitals in Australia (almost all the men responsible for this policy will be circumcised themselves, as the male circumcision rate in Australia in 1950 was about 90%).

  • Mark Lyndon July 29, 2019 at 3:48 pm Reply

    Good for them! Why don’t we just let everyone decide for themselves whether or not they want irreversible surgery on their private parts? It’s their body after all.

    It’s not like it can’t wait. I think it’s only the USA (at around 60% and dropping) and Israel where more than half of baby boys are circumcised. Other countries circumcise, but not till anywhere from the age of seven to adolescence. Only about 12% of the world’s circumcised men were circumcised as babies. Around two thirds of the world’s men (88% of the world’s non-Muslim men) never get circumcised.

    Three national medical organizations (Iceland, Sweden and Germany) have called for infant male circumcision to be *banned*, and two others (Denmark and the Netherlands) have said they’d support a ban if they didn’t think it would drive the practice underground.

    “Routine” circumcision *is* banned in public hospitals in Australia (almost all the men responsible for this policy will be circumcised themselves, as the male circumcision rate in Australia in 1950 was about 90%).

  • Mark Lyndon July 29, 2019 at 3:49 pm Reply

    Good for them! His body, his choice.

  • Mark Lyndon July 29, 2019 at 4:02 pm Reply

    Good for them! I’d pay a year’s salary rather than be circumcised. Why would I want the most sensitive and pleasurable parts cut off? That little bit of skin makes a big difference.

    Why don’t we just let everyone decide for themselves whether or not they want irreversible gen1tal surgery? It’s their body after all.

    It’s not like it can’t wait. I think it’s only the USA (at around 60% and dropping) and Israel where more than half of baby boys are circumcised. Other countries circumcise, but not till anywhere from the age of seven to adolescence. Only about 12% of the world’s circumcised men were circumcised as babies. Around two thirds of the world’s men (88% of the world’s non-Muslim men) never get circumcised.

    Three national medical organizations (Iceland, Sweden and Germany) have called for infant male circumcision to be *banned*, and two others (Denmark and the Netherlands) have said they’d support a ban if they didn’t think it would drive the practice underground.

    “Routine” circumcision *is* banned in public hospitals in Australia (almost all the men responsible for this policy will be circumcised themselves, as the male circumcision rate in Australia in 1950 was about 90%).

  • Free Bird July 29, 2019 at 5:34 pm Reply

    Good grief, just when you thought you have seen everything?

    • Andy July 30, 2019 at 8:58 am Reply

      Seeing people protest the genital mutilation of children is good.

  • Bob July 29, 2019 at 6:49 pm Reply

    I’m not sure you’re getting your message across clearly Mark Lyndon, maybe if you post a few more times.

    My takeaway from this is, if you have three days off from work in a state with the Rocky Mountains in it, and choose to spend them standing in an intersection in a jumpsuit with the crotch stained with red food coloring, yelling at people about your junk, you have some bigger problems than a piece of your pecker missing.

    • Mark Lyndon August 14, 2019 at 6:56 am Reply

      Sorry about the multiple posts. It looked like they weren’t going through, so I kept trying different variations, and now I can’t delete them. 🙁

      A lot of men, circumcised or intact, feel very strongly that circumcision is wrong btw, and that the more people know about it, the less likely they are to have it done to their children. If I was closer and not as busy, I’d be right there with them. A lot of the people protesting are women btw.

  • Dan July 29, 2019 at 7:29 pm Reply

    Moroni 8:8 —- that is the reference in the Book of Mormon. Mormons are NOT supposed to cut children! Of course, nobody should be cutting off healthy, normal, functional, erogenous parts of children. This is basic Human Rights.

  • Robin July 29, 2019 at 7:37 pm Reply

    I’m so grateful for BSM and the intactivist movement. I spared my son unnecessary pain. Equal protection and body autonomy for all!!

  • Robin July 29, 2019 at 7:39 pm Reply

    I’m so thankful for BSM and the intactivist movement. I was educated just in time to spare my son from unnecessary pain! Equal protection and body autonomy for all!!
    (I apologize if this posts twice. The comment process isn’t great for this site)

  • Hans Castorp July 29, 2019 at 8:02 pm Reply

    Is there any other surgery that the AAP says should be based on parents’ “religious, ethical and cultural beliefs”? I’m fairly confident the answer is NO.

    From the get-go, male circumcision was always about inflicting sexual harm. If anybody doubts this, just do web searches on “Maimonides circumcision” and “Kellogg circumcision”.

    Recently, this has been hushed up for obvious reasons. But even today, you can still find a few honest circumcision proponents willing to admit what really should be a fairly obvious truth:

    “Removing the foreskin diminishes the pleasure and enjoyment of intercourse. We sacrifice such pleasure and proclaim that, on our scale, Divine instruction is a greater priority than self-gratification.” https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/376074/jewish/The-Mark-of-Truth.htm

  • Foreskin is Fabulous July 29, 2019 at 8:08 pm Reply

    Thanks to these activists for educating ‘merica. It’s about time this country learned the truth about the harm of male genital mutilation. Doctors will not give you the facts. Do your research and say NO to this outdated, unnecessary, painful cosmetic surgery. Every human should have the right to their WHOLE body! Watch the documentary “American Circumcision” on Netflix. Your eyes will be opened.

  • Brentt Helland July 29, 2019 at 8:13 pm Reply

    Circumcision violates children’s (male, intersex, and female) rights to bodily integrity, autonomy, and protection from harm.
    Circumcision of children is barbaric, unnecessary, painful, harmful, unethical, and immoral.
    If/when a local anesthetic is used during circumcision procedure, the local anesthetic often has no effect and only ameliorates (that is, lessens) pain during the procedure. Complications of infant male circumcision (which include hemorrhage, infection, partial or complete amputation of the glans penis, scarring, meatal stenosis and subsequent urinary tract / kidney infections, keratinization of the glans penis, penile adhesions and skin bridges which may require another unnecessary and painful surgery, and death) are too common, 100% avoidable, and only further profit a medical system that promotes infant male circumcision at the expense of male children’s rights and well-being.
    HIS body; HIS penis; HIS rights. NO medical organization in the world recommends routine infant male circumcision. Circumcision of male children, which was promoted by medical professionals to “prevent” masturbation during the mid-19th century in the U.S., destroys and removes the most sensitive parts of the penis- the frenulum and preputial orifice. There is NO medical reason to circumcise an infant, and it is easy to teach proper care of the intact penis (The male infants prepuce (aka foreskin) is fused to glans penis (like a fingernail to the fingernail’s nail bed), and later naturally separates. NEVER forcefully retract a male child’s intact penis. Only clean what is seen.). The U.S. is the only country in the world that “routinely” circumcises male infants for non-medical reasons today…$$$. Over 99% of males will never need a circumcision.
    Circumcision violates a medical doctor’s Hippocratic Oath to “First, do no harm.” Research Circumcision. Know better; do better.

    Note: The scripture from the Book of Mormon, which is referenced in this article, is Moroni 8:8.

  • Cindy July 29, 2019 at 9:25 pm Reply

    Thank you!! Needed a good laugh today!!!!

    • David August 3, 2019 at 12:15 am Reply

      What kind of a person laughs at the suffering of children?

    • John K Adkison August 10, 2019 at 8:35 am Reply

      Genital mutilation is so funny. Have you seen the documentary American Circumcision yet?

  • Hindenburg July 30, 2019 at 12:55 am Reply

    For anyone living outside USA it looks completely insane that parents hand over their precious, perfect newborn baby boys to surgeons to perform high risk genital surgery for simply no reason at all. As an “intact” man in my sixties, father and grandfather of boys I can assure the American people that the forskin is i a valuable, pleasure-giving and problem free structure. Did you know that male and female genitalia are self-cleaning through childhood and adolescense and only have to be cleaned on the outside? As I wrote I am in my sixties and I have never Heard of a male regardless of age needing circumcision for a medical reason. I have also got an impression that a great majority of American doctors do not circumcise their own boys.

  • James Loewen July 30, 2019 at 7:55 am Reply

    Cutting the healthy genitals of children is abhorrent to rational people. Forced genital mutilation of children is ending as people become informed and recognize basic human rights, bodily integrity and autonomy.

  • Jay Davis July 30, 2019 at 8:47 am Reply

    Ok, but you have made an error, if you assume the AAP is not pro circumcision biased and has an interest in keeping this issue confused and funded. The AAP is a doctor’s trade organization ! Just like the Nation of Orange Juice producers No different.
    They were strongly debunked and rebuked by World Class physicians and academics . Do your research do-not assume removing a healthy foreskin is even margibally beneficial.

  • Jackson Farragut July 30, 2019 at 1:40 pm Reply

    Great, another pea-brained dimwit who has nothing better to do than to shove their beliefs down others’ throats. Why not protest the hypocrisy of religion? Why not protest the hypocritical lessons of the LDS, the opioid epidemic, basically anything except the parents’ right to choose what’s best for their child?

    • John K Adkison August 10, 2019 at 8:40 am Reply

      Don’t you realize that the practice is largely due to a religion? What other things should parents be able to choose? Foot binding? Neck stretching? Scarification? What if I wanted to remove my children’s toes so I wouldn’t have to deal with cleaning those nasty toenails and they would be less likely to get fungus and athletes foot?

  • I'm all here July 30, 2019 at 7:42 pm Reply

    Like Hindenberg, I’m an “intact” male in my late 60s. Neither my father nor my brother was circumcised. We all fathered children. Glad I still have that sensitive tissue. It’s mine. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

  • Roger July 30, 2019 at 8:44 pm Reply

    There are many other reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with religion, cultism, paganism, or any other group mind mentality you would prefer to shame, blame, or attribute to. Like anything there are medical pros and cons that are completely separate from your perceived ethical or moral dilemmas. Many of these can be found here:

    https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/circumcision/about/pac-20393550

    • Hindenburg July 31, 2019 at 8:33 am Reply

      Did you read my comment? There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to circumcise a baby or a boy. I also thimk you should ask doctors if they circumcise their own children. Doctors can be greedy and dishonest, but they are stupid enough to let their own Babies go through unnecessary high- risk surgery.

      • Hindenburg August 1, 2019 at 1:50 am Reply

        they are not

    • John K Adkison August 10, 2019 at 8:43 am Reply

      There are medical benefits to cutting off many body parts. The only problem here is that people do not understand the value of the prepuce (aka foreskin).

  • Edward von Roy July 31, 2019 at 1:33 am Reply

    We should not cut or circumcise (i. e. mutilate) genitals, neither of male nor of female human beings. Male circumcision is male genital mutilation, MGM.

    The foreskin, not the glans, is the most specially innervated and sensual part of the penis. The foreskin includes the frenulum, frenular delta, and ridged band, which all have a more specialized pattern of innervation than the glans and are far more sensitive to gentle touch. The glans is „sensitive“, but primarily to pain, not pleasure, as most of the nerve endings in the glans are nociceptors.

    Concerning the sensitivity (corpuscles respectively free nerve ends of the types: Merkel, Ruffini, Vater-Pacini, Meissner), the male foreskin has its equivalent not in the female (clitoral) foreskin, but in the clitoris itself. A circumcision has to be compared with an FGM type Ia of the WHO classification.

    Even the least invasive form of girls‘ circumcision (see FGM Type IV, f. e. ritual nick; ritual pinprick) has to be overcome, worldwide – and boys deserve equal protection.

    What we do not need, is negotiating the supposedly appropriate age limit of informed consent, for example 12 or 13 or 16 years. As the reality of the South African Xhosa teaches us, even 15- or 16-year-old boys can not escape peer pressure or social pressure to be circumcised.

    It remains important to protect all girls and boys under the age of 18 from unnecessary medical operations worldwide.

    No FGM, and no circumcision below 18 years of age.

    Edward von Roy, social worker

    • Free Bird July 31, 2019 at 5:27 pm Reply

      I was interested until I found out you were a social worker. The social worker is the downfall of this Country.

  • John K Adkison August 10, 2019 at 8:45 am Reply

    We believe that everyone has the right to the genitalia they were born with. Genitalautonomysociety.org

Leave a Reply to I'm all here Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

I agree to these terms.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.