Gay men remain banned from giving blood. Evidently, the FDA hasn't gotten anymore progressive since 1983 when the ban was first put into place. If a man has ever had sex with another man, he is permanently (for life!) banned from giving blood. This is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard, and it perpetuates the myth that HIV/AIDS is a gay disease. With all the new tests we have now, such a ban is unneccessary and keeps perfectly healthy men from donating blood that the Red Cross continues to say we need.
According to this article from the Associated Press, "Anyone who's used intravenous drugs or been paid for sex also is permanently barred from donating blood." Does this not equate male-to-male sexual intercourse with drug use and prostitution? What about lesbians? Can lesbians give blood? This article doesn't specify they can't, so I'm assuming they can. What about straight people who have sex with multiple partners on a regular basis? They can give blood; they're not banned for life. Say it with me, now: dumb.
3 comments:
We live near Palm Springs, which is a big big gay capital, and supposedly AIDS city. There is a blood bank there, but they have a blood mobile that comes to places like where we live because lots of the Palm Springs residents cant donate.
I'm screaming it, Sukie: DUMB!!! I guess the FDA hasn't been following the tremendous rise in non-intravenous drug using straight women who have contracted HIV via their cheating 'husbands' who want to have 'fun' in the gay world but want to live in the socially accepted one (i.e., being 'straight' and married with the 2.3 kids or whatever the percentage is!). Lesbians may be the safest population if they don't share needles or stray into sleeping with that man that likes to go both ways!
I apologize in advance for referencing Oprah (again), but she had a couple of shows focusing specifically on married men (i.e., men married to women) who would have sex with gay guys and then go have sex with their wives.
On a somewhat related note, as a nation or perhaps more specifically in Eastwick, we probably wouldn't have such a hang-up about folks being gay if they would just be who they really are. I think then non-gay people would eventually just get used to the fact that there are a lot of gay people (and bi-sexuals) everywhere.
Is this a new side of you??? One that most folks don't know about? I'm intrigued!
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