Please lodge this anti-circumcision submission with the US State Department (deadline 24 Apr 2011)

This is a response to the document "Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Biographical Questionnaire for U.S. Passport" [Docket No. DOS-2011-0055].

The deadline for submissions is 24 April 2011.

This submission can be made by anybody from any country around the world.

Instructions-

Go to the following regulations.gov submission page:

http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=DOS-2011-0055-0001

Enter your name and details in the appropriate fields (Optional). Copy & Paste the text below into the 'TYPE COMMENT' field. Click 'Submit'.

"RE: Docket No. DOS-2011-0055. I am writing to ask you to remove intrusive questions about circumcision status from the proposed supplemental Biographical Questionnaire form "DS-5513". Such inquiries intrude into the personal privacy of U.S. Citizens who merely seek to apply for a passport. The State Department's inquiry into circumcision status will only serve to discriminate against immigrant groups who are typically intact (non-circumcising). This proposed line of questioning appears to be in response to a defeat in court in the case of Castelano v. Clinton, and seems targeted at the Latino community. Such questioning may place pressure on immigrant families to circumcise their children in the belief that it may help conform to the State Departments expectations. Additionally, the form does not distinguish between male and female circumcision. Female circumcision has been made illegal by U.S. Title 18 Part I Chapter 7 Section 116 of September 30, 1996. Hence, the form may also encourage female circumcision, a violation of Federal law. The veracity of circumcision status will be difficult to ascertain in the absence of a medical examination. Medical researchers also have found that men recruited for medical studies have often incorrectly stated they were intact ("uncircumcised"), when actually they were circumcised. Such innocent errors may subject the applicant to fines and imprisonment, according to the warning provisions on the form."

Acknowledgement: The above text is a slightly modified version of an alert email sent by Tony from Intaction.org.

Please leave a reply so that I may gauge the number of submissions made.