As you may know...there is a LIFETIME ban on gay men making blood donations.
It is based on the assumption that all homosexual and bisexual men are 'high risk' for HIV. The transfusion service says the life ban is necessary to protect the blood supply from contamination.
The absurdity of this policy is obvious. Even a man who has had gay sex only once in his life, perhaps more than 40 years ago, is prohibited from donating blood.
This policy seems to reflect homophobic prejudices, not medical facts. I'm amazed that more people aren't kicking up a fuss about this insulting, unjustified mass exclusion of all gay donors, regardless of their individual sexual histories.
The fact that the transfusion service also has an across-the-board policy of rejecting blood from people who "have ever" worked as a prostitute or injected drugs, is no excuse or consolation. These policies are also indefensible. People who ceased being sex workers and injecting drug users many years prior to the start of the AIDS era pose no risk to the blood supply. Those who have more recently given up prostitution and injecting drug use for more than a year, and now test negative for HIV and hepatitis B and C, are also no danger.
As with the ban on ex-sex workers and ex-injecting drug users, the policy of excluding every gay donor is based on crass generalizations. It lumps together all gay men, without differentiation, as if they are all the same. There is a wide diversity of gay sexual behaviors and lifestyles.
The worst part about this whole thing is that are ALWAYS big blood shortages and thus people die because of this absurd ban!
Spread the word about this insane policy that is just pure discrimination!
