The New Hampshire House cannot seem to find legitimate concerns to take care of and decided to pass a bill that will accomplish nothing instead.
On Jan. 4, the New Hampshire House voted 199-175 to pass HB 619, which is a bill to ban sex reassignment surgery (SRS) for minors. At a first glance, one might not have any problems with this. Of course people should wait until they are the age of majority to receive such a serious treatment that lasts forever. The problem arises when you realize Republicans are attacking something that does not exist instead of ignoring procedures with actual harm.
According to New Hampshire Bulletin, “The bill defines genital gender reassignment surgery to mean any procedure to assist a person with a gender transition, and includes penectomies, orchiectomies, vaginoplasties, clitoroplasties, vulvoplasties, phalloplasties, vaginectomies, scrotoplasties and others.”
What this bill ignores is the two real and permanent procedures parents can give children for no reason. The bill fails to address non-therapeutic circumcision and intersex genital surgery which sadly typically occur on those who cannot give consent.
I believe these two procedures, when done without consent for non-medically necessary reasons, are terrible and it is a shame they go ignored for procedures that do not happen. Think what you want about SRS; I support it because it only happens to those who can consent to it. Above everything, I value bodily autonomy; whatever a consenting adult wants to do to their body should be up to them and should not be limited by the government.
My heart honestly breaks for babies put through needless harm just so they can conform to a trivial society. The appearance of somebody else’s genitals should not matter to anyone, and unless they cause a definite and incredibly rare danger to a person, they should not be altered without their consent.
I feel it is sadly necessary for me to mention I in no way, shape or form mean this in a way to attack anyone’s religion. Antisemitism is absolutely disgusting and does not reflect my views against circumcision which happens to children of any religious background in the United States. There are many Jewish people who agree with me that this practice should only be performed on those who can consent.
Bruchim is an organization that welcomes Jewish people who do not agree with the ritual and choose to perform a brit shalom over a brit milah. A brit shalom is a naming ceremony for babies to welcome them into the covenant of Abraham without circumcision.
According to Bruchim’s website, “Non-circumcising Jews may not realize they’re welcome in the Jewish community. Bruchim believes they have everything to offer and everything to gain from being involved in Jewish life.”
Instead of focusing on securing bodily autonomy for children, many Republicans want to pedal their transphobia yet again. The trans community is not mutilating the genitals of children, that is a dangerous lie to spread. It saddens me that the Republican party would rather scapegoat trans people instead of actually stopping harm to minors.
It is a pattern for the right-wing to ignore real injustices in order to indulge in their fantasies of a persecution complex. I hope they can change their minds from hating queer people and work with each other to stop real horrors.
Nico Brazill can be contacted at
nbrazill@kscequinox.com
