Did you know that it is illegal for gay males to give blood?
At any time there seems to be a blood shortage throughout the United States. Hospitals desperately await blood and bone marrow from donors with specific blood types. More often than not, a donation could end up saving the life of an adult or child in desperate need.
As you can imagine, many factors need to be considered before a suitable match can be found for a person in need, the most crucial being compatible blood types. Donors of rare blood types are increasingly difficult to find, prolonging the search and increasing the chance of a patient's death.
What if a donor with a rare blood type happens to be gay?
In response to the AIDS crisis of the 1980's the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned any man who has had sex with another man since 1977 from giving blood. This 1985 provision argued that men who have sex with other men are at higher risk of contracting and transmitting HIV and hepatitis, posing a health risk to potential recipients. Thus, even with a needed rare blood type, gay men are prohibited from donating blood.
What if a terminally ill patient is in need of a specific blood type and there is a gay man willing to be a donor?
Due to the 1985 ban on gay blood donors, the patient in need would continue to wait for another suitable match, risking death. Unfortunately, the patient is not informed if a gay donor has been found and does not have the opportunity to decide if they are willing to accept the health risk.
Is the ban based on medical fact or homophobia?
The Case Against: Banning Gay Donors is Prejudice!
Gay advocate Peter Tatchell states that the ban on gay blood donors "is based on the assumption that all homosexual and bisexual men are 'high risk' for HIV." and that the "policy seems to reflect homophobic prejudices, not medical facts."
Others argue that by excluding any man who has had sex with another man since 1977 proves the homophobic nature of the policy. The quality and timeliness of HIV and AIDS evaluations has improved dramatically, producing results within days or even minutes. Since most blood transfusions require weeks of preparation there is ample time to re-test as a precaution. The policy also virtually ignores the health risk posed by heterosexual donors who've been exposed to HIV or AIDS.
The Case Against: Banning Gay Donors Protects the Health of Recipients!
The FDA posted the following question and response on their web site:
As a gay male, why am I deferred as a potential blood donor simply because of my sexual orientation? Furthermore, I am in a monogamous relationship. I am being discriminated against. Will this recommendation be removed any time soon?
In 1983, FDA recommended donor-screening procedures to exclude individuals at increased risk for transmitting Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the virus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). These recommendations have been updated periodically since then. The exclusion of potential donors based on certain sexual histories has been discussed often, and in-depth, by FDA's Blood Products Advisory Committee (BPAC). This panel of non-FDA independent experts continues to recommend the deferral of men who have sex with other men and their recent partners. This issue was discussed at the December 11-12, 1997, BPAC meeting. The committee voted to reconsider the current recommendations for deferral of men who have had sex with other men. However, at that time the committee did not specify what the specific recommendations should be. Data on the incidence and prevalence of HIV and other viruses in men who have had sex with other men and data on HIV positive blood donors were presented at the November 23, 1998, FDA Workshop on Blood Donor Suitability... read more
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