While donating blood during school today, I was greatly disturbed by a conversation I had with a buddy of mine. My friend is openly gay, and quite the humanitarian, but was denied from donating blood due to his sexual orientation. I thought he was joking when he first told me, but as I filled out the mandatory 53 question survey about my life choices, it hit me that he was completely serious. The question read: "From 1977 to the present, have you had sexual contact with another male, even once?" I'd heard the stigma of homosexuals having a higher chance of contracting HIV, but I never thought they would be discriminated against like this in such an accepting part of the country. If the donor selected "yes" to the question, he would be kindly told he is "permanently deferred" from donating. A perfectly healthy man who had sexual contact with another man in 1980 would be denied while a man who got a tattoo, slept with a prostitute, and was diagnosed with Gonorrhea 13 months ago could donate. When I came home, I did some research to figure out if there is scientific reasoning behind this absurd rule. Turns out, this debate is a very lively one in Medical Forums. I also learned that no matter how high the yield of a blood drive, blood banks always need more donations. Because of this, most blood banks are actively trying to change this rule set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Barry Zingman, an Aids expert even used the word "ridiculous" to describe this FDA mandated order. Every bag of blood is tested for 8 diseases before being distributed, HIV being one of them. He says it takes about 7-10 days after infection to show up on HIV tests, not a lifetime. If any of the eight core diseases surface as positive, the blood is discarded. The chances of a unit going undetected after 10 days of extraction is less than one in two million. A California assemblyman put it perfectly: "Blood has no sexual- orientation, and the FDA should have no discrimination". The Banned4life project is a rights movement whose mission is to raise awareness about this FDA ban, and eventually bring it to an end. They have a petition to sign on their website if anybody feels strongly about this discrimination. More information, along with more studies conducted by Barry Zingman can be found here. As the needle went in my arm today as a first time donor, and my friend walked out the door, the lyrics to a Ronnie Dunn song came to mind: "We All Bleed Red".
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Homosexual Blood
While donating blood during school today, I was greatly disturbed by a conversation I had with a buddy of mine. My friend is openly gay, and quite the humanitarian, but was denied from donating blood due to his sexual orientation. I thought he was joking when he first told me, but as I filled out the mandatory 53 question survey about my life choices, it hit me that he was completely serious. The question read: "From 1977 to the present, have you had sexual contact with another male, even once?" I'd heard the stigma of homosexuals having a higher chance of contracting HIV, but I never thought they would be discriminated against like this in such an accepting part of the country. If the donor selected "yes" to the question, he would be kindly told he is "permanently deferred" from donating. A perfectly healthy man who had sexual contact with another man in 1980 would be denied while a man who got a tattoo, slept with a prostitute, and was diagnosed with Gonorrhea 13 months ago could donate. When I came home, I did some research to figure out if there is scientific reasoning behind this absurd rule. Turns out, this debate is a very lively one in Medical Forums. I also learned that no matter how high the yield of a blood drive, blood banks always need more donations. Because of this, most blood banks are actively trying to change this rule set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Barry Zingman, an Aids expert even used the word "ridiculous" to describe this FDA mandated order. Every bag of blood is tested for 8 diseases before being distributed, HIV being one of them. He says it takes about 7-10 days after infection to show up on HIV tests, not a lifetime. If any of the eight core diseases surface as positive, the blood is discarded. The chances of a unit going undetected after 10 days of extraction is less than one in two million. A California assemblyman put it perfectly: "Blood has no sexual- orientation, and the FDA should have no discrimination". The Banned4life project is a rights movement whose mission is to raise awareness about this FDA ban, and eventually bring it to an end. They have a petition to sign on their website if anybody feels strongly about this discrimination. More information, along with more studies conducted by Barry Zingman can be found here. As the needle went in my arm today as a first time donor, and my friend walked out the door, the lyrics to a Ronnie Dunn song came to mind: "We All Bleed Red".
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2 comments:
This is really sad, and somewhat disturbing. I hope your friend is alright. It's dumb that laws that are no longer accurate are still in place from decades ago, even though we have the science to prove them wrong. It just goes to show how some people refuse to change and get stuck in their own prejudices. We're all the same on the inside, so why are some discriminated against?
Noah,
Very poignant and fluidly written, and I especially dug the music soundtrack you appended to the coda.
Two issues:
1) BREAK this up into easier to digest chunks for your reader. Think about what you want to emphasize. It would really make this writing even more powerful.
2) Anchor this post to an outside text (and quote from it). I wasn't aware of the controversy of this issue and would like to see this reflected in something more than "Medical Forums".
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