Anti-circumcision protest group demonstrates on Georgia Southern Statesboro campus
February 7, 2019
Bloodstained Men & Their Friends, an organization that protests circumcision, demonstrated on the Georgia Southern University campus Thursday.
Set up at the Rotunda, members of the organization held up signs, passed out business cards and talked to students about Bloodstained Men & Their Friends.
Protestors also wore all white outfits that displayed a bloodstained crotch.
“[Our reason is to] educate people about the harms of circumcision. It is an unnecessary, harmful, and traumatic injury to a defenseless child who cannot consent,” Harry Guirmand, on-the-road spokesman for Bloodstained Men & Their Friends said.
Bloodstained Men & Their Friends is a nonprofit, nationwide, human rights organization and was founded by the late Jonathon “Brother K” Conte in 2012.
Bloodstained Men & Their Friends is currently doing a 12-city tour across Georgia to educate people about the surgery.
Guirmand described circumcision as a major crime and violation of rights against the children that have the surgery.
“Every nation on earth subscribes to the universal declaration of human rights, which says that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person,” Guirmand said. “Security of person means your body is yours. You’re not somebody’s else’s property. Somebody else doesn’t have the right to take away healthy parts of your body.”
Students react
Students on the Statesboro campus shared their reactions to the demonstration.
{{tncms-inline account=”Madeline Branch” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Eduardo Sanchez is a Freshmen who is a Music Education major, “For me it doesn’t really bother me, we all really know about it. If they are for a cause and want to add awareness for it then that’s good. I want to have a 101 talk with them to see what they are protesting for.” <a href="https://t.co/2mlTCJk7jQ">pic.twitter.com/2mlTCJk7jQ</a></p>&mdash; Madeline Branch (@_madelixe) <a href="https://twitter.com/_madelixe/status/1093568669102338053?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2019</a></blockquote>” id=”https://twitter.com/_madelixe/status/1093568669102338053″ type=”twitter”}}
{{tncms-inline account=”Madeline Branch” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“ It’s looks weird and inappropriate for campus” – Shahad Smith <a href="https://t.co/kQtDR2mmfL">pic.twitter.com/kQtDR2mmfL</a></p>&mdash; Madeline Branch (@_madelixe) <a href="https://twitter.com/_madelixe/status/1093565017600000001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2019</a></blockquote>” id=”https://twitter.com/_madelixe/status/1093565017600000001″ type=”twitter”}}
{{tncms-inline account=”Madeline Branch” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shelbe Fowler is a Biology major and graduates in 2019. Shelbe says,”I am a biology major so I always thought you were suppose to circumcise your baby, but the demonstration really caught my eye. They definitely went next level with the red paint on their pants.” <a href="https://t.co/Sbm3oppGAE">pic.twitter.com/Sbm3oppGAE</a></p>&mdash; Madeline Branch (@_madelixe) <a href="https://twitter.com/_madelixe/status/1093566557475823616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2019</a></blockquote>” id=”https://twitter.com/_madelixe/status/1093566557475823616″ type=”twitter”}}
The rest of the tweets can be seen on The George-Anne’s Twitter.
Reporters who contributed to this story are:
Anthony Belifnate, The George-Anne News Reporter
Madeline Branch, The George-Anne Candidate
Tori Collins, The George-Anne Daily Reporter
Caygan Taylor, The George-Anne Opinions Writer
ganewsed@georgiasouthern.edu