# Gay men will try to give blood Friday to protest federal ban on such donations

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-men-will-try-to-give-blood-friday-to-protest-federal-ban-on-such-donations/663263>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 11, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-men-will-try-to-give-blood-friday-to-protest-federal-ban-on-such-donations/663263 "2013-07-11T23:08:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-men-will-try-to-give-blood-friday-to-protest-federal-ban-on-such-donations/663263/41 "2013-07-12T19:45:47Z")

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They ask about earrings. Do they ask women about their earring piercings, or just guys? I was told I couldn’t donate if I had my ear pierced within the last x years. Do they ask women that?

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**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-men-will-try-to-give-blood-friday-to-protest-federal-ban-on-such-donations/663263/42 "2013-07-12T19:58:09Z")

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> [@levdrakon](#):
>
> They ask about earrings. Do they ask women about their earring piercings, or just guys? I was told I couldn’t donate if I had my ear pierced within the last x years. Do they ask women that?

That’s a state-level rule, and as far as I know, all states treat men and women equally with regard to piercing (but the deferral time varies).

In Illinois, if you got your ear pierced at a licensed place, you can donate (I gave about a month after getting my ear pierced last year. Got it done at the very reputable _Piercing Pagoda_ at a mall).

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**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-men-will-try-to-give-blood-friday-to-protest-federal-ban-on-such-donations/663263/43 "2013-07-13T07:35:03Z")

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> [@clairobscur](#):
>
> The blood is tested in batch, not individually for each donation, so a positive test means that a much more than the equivalent of one donation is going to be thrown away.

No, a positive result means that then the individual donations from that batch are tested.

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