A lawsuit filed by circumcision opponents cleared a crucial legal hurdle last week as a judge shot down Oregon’s attempt to dismiss the case.

The suit, filed in March on behalf of several circumcised men, alleges they suffered unlawful sex discrimination because Oregon lawmakers banned female genital mutilation in 1999 but allowed male genital cutting to continue.

Multnomah County Circuit Judge Melvin Oden-Orr issued an oral ruling Thursday finding that the plaintiffs have standing — in other words, that there’s a valid allegation of harm that could be fixed by winning a lawsuit.

Defeating state attorneys’ motion to dismiss means the litigation can proceed to discovery, a months- or years-long process when both sides turn over evidence.

“They suffered stigmatic harm by being treate

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