But one day’s inconvenience may lead to a change in policy, which will permanently increase the blood supply.
My partner and I have been monogamous since 1987. If either of us had been infected in the previous decade, we’d be dead by now. It doesn’t make sense that they’re turning away some badly needed blood, based on faulty assumptions. Do they ask straight people how many people they’ve had unprotected sex with, since 1977?
The only reason I’m not participating in this is that I’d be turned down anyway, because of all the medications I’m on. And my partner’s out of the country.
Sure, it will permanently increase the blood supply by 2%. And in exchange, they’ll increase the chance of infecting someone with HIV by 163%. That math looks good to you why?
Aren’t there better ways to go about it that don’t impede a legitimate donor’s ability to donate? Or make a volunteer’s job harder? And do all these men intend to go to registration, get the little handout, see that they’re on the exclusion list and just say “oh, okay” and walk out? Because that sounds like a pretty lame protest but anything else I can think of is just pure asshole behavior, like challenging policy with a volunteer who has absolutely nothing at all to do with it, or making a scene about it, or pretty much anything that isn’t just saying “oh, okay” and walking out.
Why not stage a protest outside the drive location?
I’ve zero issue with gays being barred from donating blood. As a group, they’re provably much more likely to be infected, so it makes perfect sense, especially since as mentioned there are other groups who are barred from donating as well.
Donating blood isn’t a right, and refusing your donation isn’t discrimination. Hand money to the Red Cross instead, or something like that. Money won’t ever be refused.
I understand (but don’t take that as gospel) that there are too issues with testing donated blood :
The testing isn’t 100% reliable, only 99.99% or so, so they’d rather limit as much as possible the risk of receiving contaminated blood to begin with anyway.
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.
I think a lot of us would also be less pissed off if they treated gay men similarly to people who participate in other risky sexual behaviour, and not as uniquely risky. You can have (straight) sex with someone known to be HIV positive, and you’re only deferred from donating for one year (unless you test positive, of course). But one instance of sex with another man, and you’re banned forever. Or, since it’s anal sex that’s the dangerous act, why don’t they ask if people have ever done that? Straight people can have anal sex too.
They could ask for proof of testing before blood is donated. Most people, I would guess the vast majority, would NOT want to donate blood if they knew they were infected. I think the HIV positives, or ones who suspect it, would weed themselves out, no?
If anything, I’d say that gay men are the population that is MOST likely to have HIV testing as part of their routine.
And that is the point. For those who think the event is simply to muck up the works for a day, my reading is that the GMHC is also providing free HIV testing with the option of sending the results to the Red Cross (or whoever it is in charge). The idea is to demonstrate that HIV-positive gay men are knowledgeable enough to know that they can’t donate blood. So for all the blathering about HIV rates amongst gay men, the real issue is HIV rates of actual donors.
Anyway, my anecdote is that back in grad school there was a kid who was dying at my school. In order to have a shot at living he needed a marrow transplant. Apparently, the donor list is lacking in people of Asian decent so there was a big push on campus for blood-typing, especially people who are Asian. So I went. Big mistake.
I was shocked at how cold the process is about it. I know they didn’t actually say ‘get out you filthy pig,’ but it felt that way.
Then there was the woman at the building entrance guilting people about not having their blood typed.
My main beef with the policy is that the regulation as I read it at the time, gives huge passes to heterosexuals sleeping around. But a single gay encounter is a lifetime ban. It paints a terrible and inaccurate picture for both gays and straights. Straights can engage in risky behavior too, but reading that form made it all look A-Okay. That’s kinda stupid, in my opinion.
I’m all for rescinding the ban. I’m not sure how I feel about this tactic.
Civil disobedience is called for at times - getting arrested for sitting at a segregated lunch booth, chaining yourselves inside a church.
You know, I guess I’m for it. I wish the cost in labor, supplies, etc, would ultimately hurt the FDA instead of the little blood banks being targeted, but maybe it will accomplish something.
Guess you’ve never heard of the Pink Pistols, have you? Hate to break it to you, but even now, at YOUR VERY GUN CLUB, there may be men who have teh ghey. Good thing you’re armed, huh?
This. A monogamous gay couple who, even though there’s not really any reason that they need to, always use protection, including for oral, can never donate. A straight guy who has sex with a different woman every night (and two on Sundays :p), who has raging cases of chlamydia, herpes, and genital warts, and who just finished a treatment for syphilis a year ago can donate so long as, in the last year, he hasn’t had sex with a prostitute or an IV drug user. Why are we focusing on sexual preference rather than activity?
Thank you for illustrating so succinctly why this rule is so stupid. The average straight guy has no idea about his HIV status. He’s just playing the odds that he’s unlikely to catch it. The average gay guy knows his status, and gets regularly tested to make sure he’s healthy. And that’s the guy they won’t let donate blood?
My physician has a negative attitude toward my growing tattoo collection. He orders HIV and Hep screen every year along with everything else routine. My insurance pays for it so I don’t complain. But I’m straight, tested yearly, and they decline my blood due to the artwork I have done by close friends. Whatever.