Rep. Sirocki accused of recruiting anti-Muslim group to support female genital mutiliation bill

[jpak]

Source: Portland Press Herald

Rep. Heather Sirocki has recruited a local chapter of an anti-Muslim hate group in the United States to support a bill that would criminalize female genital mutilation, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Sirocki, a Republican from Scarborough, on Tuesday plans to introduce a new bill to criminalize female genital mutilation in Maine. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit advocacy group that monitors hate groups and extremists in the United States, obtained a series of emails it says document how Sirocki contacted both a local chapter and national office of ACT for America to support a press conference she scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

In the emails obtained by the law center, the leader of the Norway chapter of ACT for America referred to Sirocki as “our sponsor for FGM.” The leader, who uses the pseudonym JB Giaour, said the bill is the “result of our initiation of this issue here in Maine.”

“This is incredible and anything you and your friends can do to muster support could easily make this happen this time,” he wrote.

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Read more: https://www.pressherald.com/2018/02/06/rep-sirocki-accused-of-recruiting-anti-muslim-group-to-support-female-genital-mutililation-bill/

[nycbos]

1. FGM is horrific.

You don't need wacko jobs to sell it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. Female genital mutilation should be criminalized.

[TubbersUK]

3. Thankfully it's illegal in the UK

FGM has been a criminal offence in the UK since 1985. In 2003 it also became a criminal offence for UK nationals or permanent UK residents to take their child abroad to have female genital mutilation.

Anyone found guilty of the offence faces a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

[jmowreader]

4. On this issue Ill take all the help we can get

This is a no-brainer kind of bill. Why it should even need help to pass is a strange question, but if we need to use the Illinois Nazis to make the Maine Legislature do the right thing...get them.

[Demsrule86]

5. Do it...it should be criminalized.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

6. There should be no need to seek fringe allies in this issue.

It is a fringe group, muslim and non-muslim, that practice this horrible assault on young girls. The only debate should be on the severity of the sentencing guidelines.

Maybe it's new to Maine. Minnesota and Michigan have been all-too-familiar with the practice for years.

[NCDem777]

7. FGM is horrific

I think we can live with a whacko group supporting it. Sad to say but without a nutter group supporting it, a bunch of conservative groups would start yowling about parental rights and how it's the first step to confiscating Christian kids.

It's why we can't get male circumcision banned.