Apparently, the Indiana Blood Center (IBC) cannot accept gay blood. Neither can the American Red Cross or any other blood bank accept it.
For as long as I can remember, people have been able to give blood voluntarily. And even though people continue to give blood, blood centers still run low on blood from lack of volunteers.
I decided to give blood when the Indiana Blood Center was here Monday because I thought that I had something that I could give freely and easily; something that could be used to save or extend the lives of others: my own blood, my own life fluid.
After filling out the usual paperwork, I went to the next station in line where a nurse looked over my paperwork. She noticed that I had answered ‘yes’ to the question that asked if I were a male who has ever “had sexual contact with another male, even once” since 1977. In response to my answer, she read the question aloud to me to make sure I understood its ramifications. As soon as she heard my response “yes, that is what I meant,” she pulled out a sheet that lists reasons why a person cannot donate blood, which include low weight and not feeling well. The ambiguous box she checked said “a letter explaining why you were not eligible to donate will be sent to you from Clinical Services”.
Thus, I am rejected from giving my blood to save others. This same treatment happens to every other homosexual that tries to volunteer their time and blood to save lives.
I find it interesting that, at the top of the sheet I received from the nurse, it mentions that “you were not eligible to donate today because you did not meet [one of the] criteria as established by the Food and Drug Administration [FDA], the AABB, and our Medical Director.”
The problem I am having is not with the blood centers, but with the FDA who has made this policy to discriminate against homosexuals based on sexual preference. Looking at the Center for Disease Control’s website, estimated AIDS cases in 2005 were highest in blacks with 20,187 cases, male-to-male sexual contact with 17,230 cases, then whites with 11,780 cases. I am in no way racist, yet really quite the opposite. My reasoning is that I want to point out that currently homosexual activity is not one of the leading causes. So why is it being discriminated against?
I called the IBC’s “Clinical Services” department and the man that spoke to me said that the “FDA gives us guidelines that we have to follow.” He admitted that “even though you probably won’t get it [HIV],” homosexual contact is still considered “higher risk” by the FDA. He also shared with me how out-of-date the policies are. The first policies on blood donors and its stipulations were created in 1983. They were later revised to the current condition in 1992.
I believe science has progressed a great deal since 15 years ago. We should be able to prove to the FDA that homosexuals are not the only people that carry HIV, others transmit it too.
I am deeply hurt by the FDA’s policy, since I have given blood twice before this happened. Yet as soon as I commit one homosexual act, I am an unacceptable blood donor forever. Does this homosexual act make my blood dirty or unfit for others? Should they label it as ‘gay blood?’ Is the blood of a woman who has had sex with a man any ‘cleaner’ than a homosexual man? I doubt a dying person would turn down my ‘gay blood.’
What is sad is that I could have just answered ‘no’ to that question in the questionnaire and the blood center would not have known the difference. But, I wanted to be honest and stand up for who I am, so I answered ‘yes.’
Scientifically, we know homosexuals do not have a different kind of blood. The only thing holding the FDA back is the mere possibility that homosexuals may have HIV. The dire problem is that other people have a possibility of contracting HIV too. Even if the probability is slightly larger for a homosexual male, does that make it right to exclude all homosexual males from donating blood? Since all blood centers legally have to screen blood anyways, I should be able to give blood along with countless other homosexual men that are ‘clean’ too. If by chance I am carrying HIV or anything else, then the blood screening tests will diagnose it, just like for anyone else that is an unknown carrier.
Having a positive HIV or STD test is a sound argument for why that certain person cannot give blood again, but a blanket statement about all homosexuals not being able to give blood, because they are presumed to be carriers, is unacceptable and offensive.