LONDON: Gilgal Society head Vernon Quaintance pleads not guilty to crimes against boys

South London Today
January 24, 2014

Pensioner denies string of child sex accusations

A MEMBER of an ancient religious order denied a tring of child sex offences when he appeared in court on Tuesday.

Vernon Quaintance, 70, of Hetley Gardens, Upper Norwood, was a sacristan - responsible for the upkeep of a church building - in the Hospital of John & St Elizabeth in St John's Wood, north London, where the ancient Catholic religious Order of Malta conduct its Masses. The retired telephone engineer is also the founder of the controversial Gilgal Society, which is dedicated to promoting male circumcision.

He denied 10 charges relating to young boys between 1966 and 2011 when he appeared at Southwark Crown Court. Quaintance is accused of foul charge of indecency with children under 16 between 1966 and 1974.

He also faces one charge of sexually assaulting a young boy in 1974 and a further charge of indecent assault on another young boy in 1966.

The four remaining charges relate to indecent images of children ranging from level one to level five in severity discovered at his home in 2011.

Quaintance spoke only to confirm his name and plead not guilty to each charge.

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Emeritus Professor Brian Morris's pro-circumcision website still has a list of of "Possible Circumcisers in Australia and New Zealand" carrying the Gilgal Society logo, even though Morris's own "Circumcision Foundation of Australia" publishes a nearly identical but updated list.

Earlier story

LEXINGTON, KY: Circumcised men less likely to use condoms

PubMed
March 20, 2013

Intact men more likely to use condoms

This study shows circumcised men are less likely to use condoms at all, more likely to use them rarely, and lack confidence in using them.

Int J STD AIDS. 2013 Mar 20. [Epub ahead of print] A comparison of condom use perceptions and behaviours between circumcised and intact men attending sexually transmitted disease clinics in the United States. Crosby R, Charnigo RJ. Source College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA. Abstract This investigation compared circumcised and intact (uncircumcised) men attending sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinics on condom perceptions and frequencies of use. Men (N = 316) were recruited from public clinics in two US states. Circumcision status was self-reported through the aid of diagrams. Intact men were less likely to report unprotected vaginal sex (P < 0.001), infrequent condom use (P = 0.02) or lack of confidence to use condoms (P = 0.049). The bivariate association between circumcision status and unprotected sex was moderated by age (P < 0.001), recent STD acquisition (P < 0.001) and by confidence level for condom use (P < 0.001). The bivariate association between circumcision status and infrequent condom use was also moderated by age (P = 0.002), recent STI acquisition (P = 0.02) and confidence level (P = 0.01). Multivariate findings supported the conclusion that intact men may use condoms more frequently and that confidence predicts use, suggesting that intervention programmes should focus on building men's confidence to use condoms, especially for circumcised men. PMID: 23514832 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Since condoms are so much more effective than circumcision at prevening HIV acquistion and transmission (assuming the RCTs are valid) this just underlines the risk of promoting circumcision.

ZIMBABWE: "Most" cut men think they're immune: condoms poorly tested

The Africa Report
July 11, 2012

Zimbabwe: Concern over high HIV rates among circumcised males

By Janet Shoko
Health officials in Zimbabwe are worried that the massive drive to have 1, 2 million men circumcised by 2015 might backfire following indications that HIV prevalence is high among men that have undergone the procedure.

...

National Aids Council (NAC) public health officer Blessing Mutede said authorities were concerned about the high rate of infection among the circumcised.

Health officials say most men, after circumcision, harbour the false impression that they have been equipped with an invisible condom.
[As we predicted. But how do they know what most men think?]

"It is a worrying development that at a time when we are promoting male circumcision as a preventive measure to combat HIV, we are recording a high prevalence rate amongst the group that has been circumcised largely due to uninformed risky compensatory behaviours," Mutede said.

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On Wednesday, it was reported that condom users in Zimbabwe were in danger after it emerged that equipment used to test the quality of condoms was out-dated and no longer had capacity to produce accurate results.

Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe director, Gugu Mahlangu said the "equipment was 15 years old".
"We are supposed to test 6-8 sample batches of condoms with the air inflators but at the end we only test three batches because of the backward technology" she said.
[Or maybe more vigorous thrusting after circumcision bursts faulty condoms more? This guess is as good as theirs.]
 
Earlier story

ISRAEL: Circumcision promoted for secular Jews

Milah b'li Brit? (Cutting without Covenant?)

Israel National News
July 10, 2012

Tzohar to Make Circumcision Secular-Friendly

The Tzohar organization has launched a program to assist secular Israelis in conducting brit mila (circumcision) ceremonies for their sons. The organization currently assists in running Jewish marriage ceremonies for secular couples, and has played a part in 35,000 weddings.

“Beyond the physical aspects of the Brit Milah which parents naturally find stressful, we know that secular couples in particular can find the rituals associated with this process to be confusing and even alienating,” said Rabbi David Stav, Chairman and co-Founder of Tzohar.

Rabbi Stav noted that in recent years, some Israelis have chosen not to circumcise their sons. “This is a tradition which has defined our people for thousands of years and any threat to its continuation, particularly here in the modern Jewish State, should be confronted before the numbers of Jewish boys being denied a Brit Milah grows to even more troubling proportions,” he said.

BOTSWANA: Kickback to advocate circumcision?

the Monitor (Botswana)
May 21, 2012

Vee in P1.3m circumcision deal - allegations

By Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
The Ministry of Health spokesman Themba Sibanda yesterday claimed ignorance as to whether they paid P1.3 million [$US 169,000] to kwaito kwasa star Vee wa Mampela for the on-going Safe Male Circumcision campaign spearheaded by the star.

Vee is the face of the Ministry of Health's Safe Male Circumcision drive that seeks to have half a million men circumcised to reduce the HIV/AIDS infection. Vee appears on billboards, newspaper adverts and television commercials as the face of the Safe Male Circumcision drive.

Sibanda referred further enquiries to Vee saying the issue of contract is personal. When asked to say if it is true that the tender for the job was never floated, Sibanda said he does not know much about that yet, saying he would have to check with the relevant department.

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ZIMBABWE: Youths bribed with soccer to get circumcised

the Herald (Zimbabwe)
May 17, 2012

Zimbabwe: Changing Lives Through Soccer

THE power of soccer is the ability to keep humans knocking the ball around.

...

The power of soccer has not only left people in packed stadiums excited, it has marked its place in the management of HIV and Aids by thousands of youths in Zimbabwe's second largest city, Bulawayo.

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GRS communications officer Tanya Sibanda said since 2002, more than 25 000 youth have graduated from GRS Zimbabwe programmes

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The GRS curriculum, she points out, is also designed to strengthen relationships between the coaches and the youth participants and comprises of ten 90-minute sessions.

Each coaching pair (i.e. a male and a female coach) works with a maximum of 25 youths.

One session is done per week meaning these two role models will see the same 25 youth once a week for 10 weeks, enabling them to build strong, trusting relationships.

Ms Sibanda said the curriculum is also designed to foster maximum interaction between GRS coaches and participants.

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GRS received a three-year programme grant in 2005 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to expand its work.

"GRS now operates flagship sites in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Zambia and has worked through partnerships in 18 countries worldwide," she said.

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She revealed that GRS and PSI Zimbabwe will be hosting Bulawayo's first-ever male circumcision soccer tournaments to promote male circumcision from April to June.

Ms Sibanda said health partners at the events will offer free referrals for medical male circumcision including appointment bookings and free transportation to the PSI male circumcision clinic on site, with free HIV counselling and testing as well. [So what choice will the boys have?]

Soccer celebrities spearheading this campaign include some of Bulawayo's hottest talent -- Bantu Rovers' squad, which is fresh from a tour of the United States. From April 1 to 8, Bantu represented Zimbabwe at the 33rd annual Dallas Cup tournament in Dallas, Texas.

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