Kia ora Hugh,

I heard you speak at Victoria University last week. I was impressed. You were obviously nervous, but got your point across in a non-confrontational way.

i was frankly underwhelmed by the logic of that Jewish professor arguing that a child had a right to grow up in a religious community by undergoing an irreversible operation without that child's consent.

I also failed to buy in to the lesbian freminist law professor's argument that male babys' freedom to be circumcised against their will was unfair to hemaphrodites (who could not be assigned as male), or of women who wanted cosmetic surgery on their genitals. -Is their no end to the ability of people such as that professor to identify as victims?

Human rights issues are always a balance of conflicting rights -right to bodily integrity, best interests of child, right of parents to decide what is in best interests of child, religious freedom, etc, etc. I liked your summary that eventually humanity will have to move beyond 'cleansing' non-consenting babies by cutting their genitals.

Keep up the good work. I'd like to speak out but I'd never get a practicing certificate.

RS