Above: The iconic 26 foot ‘Forever Marilyn’ statue presided over GALDEF’s two-day presence at the 2024 Palm Springs Pride festival.
GALDEF spent November 2nd and 3rd educating Palm Springs Pride festival-goers about foreskin facts, dispelling myths about circumcision, advocating for genital autonomy, and illuminating booth visitors about the legal disparity between girls, boy and intersex children. Some were surprised to know that many states have laws that protect only the genitals of girls, and not boys or intersex kids.
Executive Director, Tim Hammond, and Treasurer Jake Cox were on hand to distribute literature and take donations for our Pride roses, meticulously handmade and generously donated by Michigan florist and GALDEF supporter Glen Powell.
GALDEF Treasurer Jake Cox and Executive Director Tim Hammond distribute information to Pride festival-goers.
Also providing valuable volunteer assistance was Brett Rosenberg (not pictured).
GALDEF Executive Director Tim Hammond flanked by Intact Global’s Eric Clopper and Joe McCormack.
| Also stopping by to volunteer in a show of solidarity were Intact Global founder and attorney Eric Clopper and his Treasurer Joe McCormack. Tim, Eric and Joe explained to booth visitors about GALDEF’s mission to raise funds for a broad range of genital autonomy litigation while Intact Global is raising funds for an equal protection challenge to Oregon’s anti-FGM law for its unconstitutional lack of equal protection for all children at risk of genital mutilation (i.e. boys and intersex kids).
GALDEF’s booth was located fortuitously next to the “I ♥ Boobies” booth that advocates for breast cancer awareness for both women and men. |
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The demographics of the Palm Springs community presented a challenge in educating some older residents about children’s rights to genital autonomy, many of whom who had been circumcised themselves and displayed some defensiveness, as well as grandparents and parents who heard for the first time that the decisions they made for their sons may not have been the wisest. However, we encountered in that same demographic many men who expressed their resentment over having this surgery forced upon them as a vulnerable child, as well as many men and women with experiences in earlier civil rights movements who instantly understood the relationship of children’s rights to women’s rights, LGBT rights, and other vital human rights struggles.
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