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I'm not allowed to donate blood...

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Bubba-Snax
Posts: 541 - Karma: 11
... because I'm gay.

I went to donate blood the other day for the first time. On the questionnaire it asked me if i have ever engaged in sexual activity with somebody of the same sex. On the back of the paper work it clearly states "Do not donate blood if you: are a male who has had sexual contact with another male, even once, since 1977".  When i asked the nurse about it she told me no that it was law.They cannot take my blood because of who I am.

I have always been safe, even my first time, and i have gotten tested regularly when i could afford it. The premiss of this law is that AIDS and HIV is prevalent in the gay community. I have always been responsible and have never been at a higher risk of contraction or spreading than any other sexually active heterosexual. So what i want to know is, why is my blood no better than any other straight persons? Is it somehow dirty?

It really hurt me and pissed me off. All i wanted to do was something good for my community because i known I'm a universal donor. Living in NY I thought things were getting better, especially after gay marriage was legalized. So how can a law like this still exist?

/rant.

spark notes: I'm gay and it's illegal for gay individuals to donate blood.

inb4: cool story bro, tl;dr, gtfo gay boy, somehow "pee in her butt"??

Jan 26 2012 7:25PM
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corona
Posts: 12752 - Karma: 32,266
It makes complete sense. you're taking something personally that isn't personal at all. it's law based on cold, hard, facts. it's more that 44 times more likely for a gay male in US to have hiv/aids than a straight male, so when the gay male population only makes up a tiny fraction of blood donors, why not eliminate all the substantial risk and not take blood from them.

it's sort of like if you were a farmer and you were going to sell your cattle to another country. your country is known to have 44 times the BSE rate than another country that is also selling cattle, the country that is doing the buying is just going to buy everything from the other country. they could test all the meat, and chances are they do have quality control, but they'd just rater not risk it and buy meat exclusively from the country with fraction of the chance of their meat having BSE.

here are some statistics for you so you don't feel singled out:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/fastfacts-msm-final508comp.pdf
Jan 26 2012 11:24PM
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Anathema
Posts: 21048 - Karma: 5,061
warning: homosexual blood may contain rainbows
Jan 26 2012 11:29PM
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chicken
Posts: 6843 - Karma: 2,122
they can't always screen for HIV during the first year someone has it. That's why they do not take higher risk blood. There have been many simulations run using all the statistics and it turns out that allowing men who have had sex with other men will increase the likelihood that someone contracts HIV through blood transfusion. Some studies suggest up to 600%. Now you have to keep in mind right now the number of infections through transfusions is so low that even a 600% increase is not a huge increase in terms of numbers.

If you ask someone who knows a lot about this subject they will not dispute what I said above. However they will also not dispute the fact that we need more blood donations. So the controversy is really which is costing more lives? I think most experts will say the lack of blood.
Jan 26 2012 11:58PM
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chicken
Posts: 6843 - Karma: 2,122
Yeah she should not have been allowed to say no then.

It's not whether you are gay or not. Its whether you have had sex with another guy (in some places since 77, in other places in the last year). It obviously means that most gay men will be excluded, but that does not mean that straight guys can not be excluded as well or that a gay person is not allowed to donate. Plus as far as I know any gay woman can donate blood.
Jan 27 2012 12:01AM
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henrytargett
Posts: 903 - Karma: 35
Wow ns, I'm very surprised with the maturity level of this thread. Nice
Jan 27 2012 12:03AM
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Shza.
Posts: 425 - Karma: 92
And the fact that you're 12, Joey

Jan 27 2012 12:05AM
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Raz.
Posts: 7456 - Karma: 1,611
-_- this shit happenned again yesterday. I had to get a blood test and they asked me to donate.... shit got weird
Mar 18 2012 7:40PM
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Parks.
Posts: 5612 - Karma: 1,093
donated on friday
Mar 18 2012 7:46PM
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.SillyGoose
Posts: 345 - Karma: 96
Dont get mad at the nurses/doctors, if they were to get caught doing ANYTHING illegal (even something as retarded as that), they could be shut down/lose their right to practice.

Also, you should seriously send a letter, not an email, to your senator/governer/anylocalofficial.
Mar 18 2012 7:50PM
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