Banning gay men from donating blood

Share your thoughts on the topic if you wish. Personally I'm indifferent. It is rather discriminatory, however donating blood is not mandatory, it is something one does because they choose to do so. It's a bit different than saying gay people can't marry IMO, then again, I'm not gay. I suppose I would feel quite oppressed if I was.

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Canada's ban on blood donations from homosexual men is outdated and unfair, contends a new article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Canadian Blood Services and Hema-Quebec have banned blood donations from men who have sex with men since 1983, when the AIDS crisis was in its infancy. Back then, there was no effective way to test blood for HIV.

But while the ban made sense back then, it no longer does in 2010, write pioneering AIDS researchers Dr. Mark Wainberg and Dr. Norbert Gilmore.

"The 1983 ban has hung on so long, unfortunately, because many people became infected by HIV in the early 80s through blood transfusions, and they have mounted continuing pressure on the blood agencies to maintain the ban," Wainberg said in a news release.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...blood-donors-100525/20100525?hub=TopStoriesV2

 

People are generally indifferent to things that don't affect them.

 

Yea, that's unfortunately true.

 

It costs a lot of money to change the forms, I guess.

Why not just say that you're straight, if you wanna give blood so badly?

 

It's against their personal values. I'd never say I was gay if someone forced me too.

 

then its not about being gay but about practising safe sex. you can be straight and above norm promiscuous.

 

I'm indifferent too, and i'm gay. i might care if i was poor though as its a way to get money, and if i knew for sure i was tested negative maybe.

but like the article says, "But while the ban made sense back then, it no longer does in 2010." I'm sure blood banks can accept approvals by the doctors that test for hiv...

"The 1983 ban has hung on so long, unfortunately, because many people became infected by HIV in the early 80s through blood transfusions, and they have mounted continuing pressure on the blood agencies to maintain the ban"
I think this is just fear basically. so people need to get over it cuz we have procedures now that we can take.
Don't they check your blood already for any kind of drugs, abnormalities, tattoos? If they were to improve that blood testing, it'd cost money that they do not have.


@ the posts above, I would not lie to them for the reason that I don't wanna pretend/ personal belief, AND cuz if i don't know if i do have HIV, i don't wanna give them risk.
and like baloon said, it IS about safe sex in general. that's why the ban is based on fear. also on ignorance so blaaahhhh.

 

I don't really see it as discriminatory, because no one is stopping anyone from living their lives the way they want. They just can't give blood. So what? It's confidential.

Not in Canada.

 

marriage is not mandatory either...

i'm indifferent from the gay people's standpoint; oh shucks, they can't get a needle shoved into their arm, poor them. it seems pretty fucking retarded to turn down perfectly good blood though.

 

not in most of the US either, as far as i know.

plasma's where the cash is at.

 

that i won't care? or won't be poor? haha

 

You won't get money.

 

you can also be straight and have AIDS

 

oh eff that, i'm really indifferent now haha

 

I suppose I was splitting hairs.

 

Gays are not the only people who can not give blood. Anyone who had Hepatitis, anemia, or any blood disorder can not give either. Nor can anyone who had a whole blood transfusion fro 1980 to present who is from the UK, France and western Europe due to the possibility of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (VCJD). There are other exclusions as well such as cancer or having had radiation or chemotherapy as well as many other medications that cross blood.

The main reason is that when you require a transfusion usually your immune system is suppressed and you are susceptible to any thing in the transfusion. It is a precaution.

 

i dont' see why they should

silly gays

 

thats fucked up. if the blood goes through a huge screening process and gets tested before its sent to hospitals and other similar places, it shouldnt matter if its coming from a straight or gay person

 

Kind of silly all round really, the policy doesnt protect from closeted gay, secret bi, secret bi and married to a girl types, which is a bigger section of the population than openly gay

So its just a continuance of that sillyness. Same kind of thing with the Dont ask Dont tell policy in the military, Anyone thats been in the miltary will tell you a lot more of that kind of stuff goes on that one might think, most of which by guys you wouldnt exactly label gay.

And yet its turned into our issue, even though either issue isnt really about us first. That pretend thing that everyone else seems to do, that there is only gay or straight, no in between, cos in between is too confronting

I'm gay, disease free, always safe. If they want to go with the odds and refuse my blood, the problem is screening methods arent airtight, not anything else

 

Exactly!