On April 18 and 19 Board members Tim Hammond and Dr. Leif Thompson, along with Advisory Council members T.T. Perry, Allie Arshad and attorney Justine Block, attended the Intact Global Conference in Los Angeles. Hammond gave an informative progress report about GALDEF’s accomplishments over the past year and urged circumcision sufferers and those who love them to take a break from the keyboard and come out “in real life” to family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues so that no one can say they never heard a man complain about being circumcised.

Dr. Thompson’s presentation, “If you aren’t counted, you don’t count”, focused on the obstacles that keep circumcision sufferers from speaking out and being seriously acknowledged by the medical and mental health communities and suggested a new paradigm to correct it.

Allie Arshad and T.T. Perry spoke on the topic of “Inclusive Activism” and how forced penile circumcision affects intersex, trans and nonbinary people, as well as the importance of intactivists remaining open to including nonbinary allies in the struggle for genital autonomy. Perry urged members of the medical community to “treat people as experts about their own bodies.”

Recorded livestreams of the event, and the specific presentations mentioned above, can be viewed at the following links.

GALDEF Progress Report (Hammond): Time code: 3h:36m:20s to 4h:06m:45s

If you don’t count, you’re not counted (Thompson): Time code: 4h:15m:20s to 5h:22m:50s

Inclusive Activism (Perry): Time code: 45m:00s to 54m:20s

Tim Hammond’s presentation included an excerpt from the newly released
Potential Plaintiff education video on YouTube. Hammond also urged more
circumcision sufferers to take a break from the keyboard and to “come out”
IRL (in real life).

T.T. Perry spoke about how passage of state anti-trans laws are designed to
“stop genital mutilation” (i.e., transgender care), but almost all exempt
penile circumcision from the definition of genital mutilation. They also spoke
about the need for medical professionals to “treat people as experts about
their own bodies.”