Donating Blood (merged)

Just lie on these forms, who cares? This government is beyond fucked up.

 

The really "wrong" thing about disqualifying blood donations from any man who has had sex with another even once since 1977 is that this policy is based on homophobia rather than science. As a gay male who has been in a monogomous relationship for the last six years, never have butt sex (and frankly we barely have any sex at all), my blood is way safer than that of most college students, single hetero men, and let's be real: most hetero married men--since most cheat once in a while. But where do all those blood drives go? Fraternities, corporations with young people, etc.. And they are trying to ensure the safety of the blood supply? Please! Why is it easier for a former prostitute/heroin addict to give blood than gay men in decades long monogomous relationships? It's all about public perception, not real statistics and science.

What needs to happen? Well, for one thing they could ask realistic questions, like: How many different people have you had sex with in the last two years? Did you use protection during all of those encounters? etc.

Second, if the Red Cross told the government that they wanted the rules altered, the government would comply. But the Red Cross continues to use the government rules as an excuse, rather than voicing objections. I'm not saying the Red Cross should break the rules or stop taking blood, but they should advocate for sensible rules.

What can you do? Don't donate blood OR MONEY to the red cross, and tell them why. Second, whenever you hear that there is a "critically low" shortage of blood, you can reply that that is a bunch of BS. If there were ever an actual danger of running out of blood, they would accept it from every dirty-needle user in Detroit -- remember that the blood IS tested for diseases after it is taken. If there were a REAL blood shortage they would take the 1 in a million risk of a contaminated sample making it through rather than be in a situation where there were truly no blood available. Those "critically low" blood shortages simply mean they are below the level of comfort for their antiquated beaurocratic procedures to deal with. Don't trouble yourself with blood donations... trust me they have more than enough blood supply... if they were really a need they would lose the hate-based rules and switch to ones based on sense and science.

 

Interesting, discrimination against heterosexuals by a homosexual in a thread where homosexuals are complaining about discrimination....

Okay, so y'all don't like their rules. Get off your fucking asses then....I honestly can't believe you will all sit here and complain and do nothing about it. Write a letter, talk to a politician, protest... But sitting and complaining and LYING about your situation is no way to go about changing or dealing with the problem. In fact, lying about who you are, just as Samhain pointed it, is a very pathetic way of dealing with the problem...

This poster, unfortunately was ignored, but pretty much had a really good point.

You might as well be creating more stereotypes about gays by lying in order to feel like a do-gooder blood donor. Stand up for yourself and others if you don't agree with an organizations policies. Don't be a sneaky bugger who does nobody but himself any good when he lies. There is always a need for blood, yes, but honestly, you know, and you know you know, that they're not freaking out about a shortage. It's not necessary to play a charade about who you are in order to do something that makes you feel good about yourself.

Rules are in place for a reason. Maybe that reason eludes you or maybe you don't agree with the principles, whatever. The fact is, your stance does NOT matter. Not unless you decide to fight it and actually fight it. Lying and sneaking is not fighting something you don't believe in. Forget the lying. Be who you are and accept the rules and go on with your life, or be who you are and fight the rules in a good, honest way.

 

yes its not good to lye and not tell the truth, but you failed to see the people are are dyeing because they do not have a particular blood type in the hospital in time or they contract a disease which yes, could have come from a gay person who has lied and given blood, but it ALSO could have come from a strait person that had sex with a gay person and gotten a disease, or just from a strait person who has has MANY partners recently and didn't have to tell about it, or lied about it. and i am NOT discriminating against strait people by only mentioning them, but homosexuals are already out of the picture! if a gay person is in a monogamous relationship, always uses protection, and consistently gets checked for STD's, they STILL can not give blood, while the strait "collage student" with multiple partners with people who have Also had multiple partner and so on and so forth, somewhere down the line with someone who could have had aids from doing heroin with a dirty needle and anything else, can give blood...its WRONG AND NEEDS TO CHANGE.

 

There is no one dying because of lack of blood donations.

The way to protest against the poorly constructed and discrimanatory rules is NOT to lie so that you can donate blood. That is completely counterproductive, besides unethical.

The way to protest is to keep telling people that they are not getting your perfectly good blood, and also for supporters to tell the Red Cross vampires to say that they aren't donating their blood either until the rules are changed to be based on science and sense. If there ever were a REAL blood shortage--I mean one where there was actually a danger of running out of blood, not just a situation where the idiots in healthcare were uncomfortable with their poorly handles supply--then the rules would change in a hearbeat.

In the meantime, do not bother donating blood. It's just a waste of time. Yes, yes, if no one dontated blood it would be a problem, but that is not the situation, and it's an oppotunity to protest against discrimination by the government.

 

Wow, has it already been two years since I came across this thread and commented?
http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showpost.php?p=4247714&postcount=140

And I get to bump it from two years ago because the posts died out shortly after that but I revisited it because a young man in another Gay Forums thread mentioned how ridiculous it was to discriminate against gay men in blood donations.

There seems to be two sides to an argument here, mine which says that if you are a gay man who is disease free and low risk of getting disease, then go ahead and lie on the bullshit form.

The other side seems to not see the senseless discrimination of it, the bad science, the safety of the ultimate gene testing of the actual blood and the civil disobedience of lying to the uncaring authorities as an American tradition going back to when we were a colony of England (and which some of us revised in the late '60s early '70s)

One such person who apparently did not read my posted article (I know, I know - anything longer than two paragraphs is WAAAAY too long for the Internet/txtng crowd of under 30s.)

However, others have made my point in much shorter posts which also have been ignored.

This is a good point, but pointless. Ppl have gotten off their asses and complained about it. As mentioned in my July 31, 2000 (Wow, exactly a decade - synchronicity?) published article: "The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, a group of physicians have also been complaining about this bit of senseless discrimination, but are likewise ignored by the bureaucrats in charge of the FDA."

I personally have written numerous articles in the gay and mainstream press about this but the senseless discrimination persists. In fact, the Red Cross is mentioned and they do go with the party line, but it is the FDA that is intractable. In Septemboer 1998, Nieves Losa of the South Florida American Red Cross was quoted: "Every unit of blood is tested for 13 different things. It's thoroughly tested. So if a person lies on any of the questions asked, it still goes through the testing procedure and the testing procedures are very sophisticated and it should be caught if anything was wrong."

Oh, don't worry about stereotypes. I am proud of my stereotype of someone who has tuned in, turned on and dropped out of the contrived culture in which I was raised. Challenge Authority is a key part of my stereotype as with many others of my contemporaries. (OMG, not like there aren't a bunch of lying dopers reading this right now. Are they growing their ganja in the front yard? No - they are sneaking into the woods, looking under tomato plants or finding better enclosed hydroponic ways of LYING TO THE AUTHORITIES) So, lecturing us liars on this Forum Board is rather specious.

If you've read my article and many of the other posts here, or the science, or the protests of physicians for the past couple of decades you will know that rules are NOT in place for a reason. That is the whole point - these are unreasonable, discriminatory restrictions targeting a particular class of ppl. And, we have tried to fight it with reason, petition and science all to no avail. So, the fight goes underground. Some day when the idiocy and discrimination against homosexuals is history, Roberto Sangrebuena will recount how he and many other gay men donated safe blood during the discrimination days.

BTW, since I started tracking them in 1987, I have donated 5 gallons of blood.

 

tldr..

 

I just donated another pint last week and this week I got a certificate in the mail.



Actually, I have donated 5 gallons over the years, just 3 by this collector. Still, I hate lying on the stupid, counterproductive form.

 

FINALLY! A gay rights movement I can get behind!

 

My friend mentioned this really extreme protest in which they were going to have each gay guy donate a vile of blood and then splatter it on signs and stuff, because, heck, it's worthless blood anyway, right? I would not recommend it, but they're not listening to any form of protest now.

And yet they're still sending me all sorts of letters because I'm a universal donor and my blood is apparently extremely valuable. If only they knew that I was infecting people with THE GAY. Lmao.

Meanwhile, I know people who were black listed, and now if they try to donate blood, a little red flag pops up on the computer screen and they get denied! Insanity.

 

Instead of a lifetime ban, it should be a one year deferral since last time. After that time, the chance of AIDS showing up during blood screening is excellent. But recent infections may produce false negative results. AIDS is more easily transmitted with anal sex. If half the population, for instance, consisted of MSM, then there probably would be no ban, because a large pool of donors would be eliminated off the bat. But because it's nowhere near that, the ban is in place. It's all about risk and payoff.

To be honest, I don't think this is a civil rights issue. Why? Because you do not have the right to donate blood. They have pretty stringent controls in place, and it's an effective way to control the spread of disease. People can be turned away for all kinds of "risk factors" that are much less of a risk than MSM. IV drug users are banned for life, for instance, but why can't we make exceptions for those who have never actually shared needles or syringes? Probably because it's easier to make the ban a bit broader.