SIDNEY — A group advocating for circumcision to be outlawed demonstrated at the West Michigan Street and Vandemark Road intersection for a little over two hours on Friday.

Bloodstained Men is in the midst of a 13-day tour throughout West Virginia and Ohio. The anti-circumcision group is stopping in two cities per day; after stopping in Sidney early in the day, the group went to Lima on Friday afternoon.

Eight men from all corners of the United States, along with one man from Ireland, are making the tour.

“We’re here to warn the American people the circumcision literally is child abuse,” Brother K, the group’s founder, said. “If we were out here protesting the circumcision girls, people would not disagree with us. They would say, ‘Yeah, that is child abuse.’

“It is the same child abuse to circumcise a boy as it is to circumcise a girl. It’s just that we have these layers of denial and fake excuses to try to conceal from ourselves what we’re doing to our sons. But it’s just an appalling injury. It’s a lifelong injury to the boy and the man he becomes.”

The group protests in white clothing with red paint in the groin area of their pants. A few members were in each corner of the West Michigan/Vandemark intersection.

David Atkinson, the group’s President and CEO, said Brother K founded the group in 2012, the same year the United Nations passed a resolution urging nations to nations to condemn female genital mutilation.

Female genital mutilation has been outlawed in the United States since 1996.

“Our work is to protect boys from what girls are already protected from by federal law in the United States under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, the equal protection under the law,” Brother K said. “Boys are constitutionally and theoretically and legally entitled to protection from that same law.”

Childhood circumcision is common in the United States but less common throughout the world, especially in Europe. The group’s members said have no qualms with men choosing circumcision for themselves in adulthood, but not for parents to circumcise their children.

“We do not want future generations to suffer the same act of violence that was inflicted on us when we were too young to defend ourselves, and the foreskin is a normal, healthy, valuable part of the human body,” Atkinson said. “The European medical community has condemned American doctors for tampering with the genitals of perfectly healthy baby boys.

“So we are here to provide the information and confidence to American parents so that they can protect their children from the people who would cut their genitals.”

Circumcision took hold in the United States in a late 1800’s, and it has stayed popular since, though it’s frequence has continued to decline in recent decades. The American Academy of Pediatrics has been neutral on the issue for over a decade.

The Mayo Clinic says circumcision has various benefits, including easier hygiene, lower risk of urinary tract infections, lower risk of sexually transmitted diseases and lower risk of penile cancer.

Atkinson said studies have cast doubt on those claims.

“The short answer is that that’s a bunch of nonsense and that even if it was true, that doesn’t justify cutting off part of the healthy body parts of a defenseless child,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson said the group has gotten a wide range of reactions in its protests, including occasional hecklers. But he said they’ve had increasing support in recent years.

“I’ve been doing this since 2014. I’ve noticed that the negative reactions have decreased and the positive reactions have increased,” Atkinson said. “And this, I believe, is because there’s more awareness in society that this is a serious human rights issue, and it’s not something that to be mocked.

“It’s an act of violence against children and a violation of the rights of the child, and it’s a children’s justice issue.”

Thomas Mooney traveled from Dublin, Ireland, to take part in the demonstration tour.

He said the practice is highly uncommon in Ireland.

“Many people, when I tell them about this, they couldn’t fathom as parents doing something so cruel and painful to their children,” Mooney said. “… In Ireland, if you go into ask a pediatrician to (circumcise) your baby boy, you would need a valid (medical) reason, or they call social services.”

Reach Sidney Daily News editor Bryant Billing at 937-538-4822, or follow @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook or @TopBillingSport on X (Twitter).