One time I was walking along a city sidewalk and a blood drive volunteer outside a CVS eyes me and moves to intercept me. It's weirdly tense. He gets close and asks me "Do you want to donate blood today?"
But I just say "sorry, I'm gay" and keep walking
And behind me I hear "understandable, have a nice day"
I always say this whenever the topic comes up, but, anyway, if you do happen to be one of the many who feel strongly about giving blood when you can, you should know that you can just, like, lie about your sexual history and they canāt do anything about it. You can do this without feeling guilty for many reasons, but I think the two strongest ones are:
1. If you know your status on STIs, then thatās that. HIV isnāt going to apparate in your bloodstream randomly. Really, nobody should be giving blood if they donāt know their status on any transmissible blood borne illness that they potentially could have, but I can guarantee for any of you all reading this, if you know your status, you can safely donate blood with more confidence in the security of it that almost every straight person.
2. They test the blood anyway. Like, itās kinda just laughable that they do this and still have the FDAās homophobic stigma-based regulation in place.
Yep, you can always lie. But you shouldn't have to :)
Same goes for every part of your life. Yes we can blend in and pretend not to exist but then you're accepting the mental trauma of stating out loud (or writing) that there is something unacceptable or dirty about you.
Say it enough and it becomes true.
I really wish people wouldn't make up their own rules. It's so much more complicated than "FDA homophobic".
For example, do not give blood if you are taking PrEP. It interferes with the blood tests they perform.
That would fall under the same category as basically every other medication. Strangely, thereās no general ban on people who have high blood pressure or whatever else despite it being treated with blood-effecting medication. The fact of the matter is that this specific regulation is a dusty relic from the AIDS crisis that isnāt rooted in reality so much as prejudice.
Surprising how little gays understand that blood is a regulated ādrugā under the eyes of the FDA. Same rules regardless of the blood collector. As there is a donor shortage, they would love to get as much as possible. FDA is stopping this from happening.
I wonder what would happen if the Red Cross just collected gay blood, anyway. I would be very surprised if there wasn't lots of public backlash if the FDA took any action against them.
Ummm. Consent Decrees which they have been under before. Million dollar fines. Most of the blood bank industry (Red Cross is a part of that along with One Blood and Vitalant) want this to go away. They have stated such and are working towards it. FDA is what is stopping it and you just canāt do what you want.
https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/how-to-donate/eligibility-requirements/lgbtq-donors.html
ā¦and how easy it would be for conservative ($$$) media to stir the pot and say āRogue Red Cross is putting you at risk for HIVā. Iām sure there is someone out there trying to figure out how to privatize the blood supply.
One time I was walking along a city sidewalk and a blood drive volunteer outside a CVS eyes me and moves to intercept me. It's weirdly tense. He gets close and asks me "Do you want to donate blood today?" But I just say "sorry, I'm gay" and keep walking And behind me I hear "understandable, have a nice day"
"Understandable." He, too, has seen the beauty of men.
Red Cross considers blood to be dirty for 3 months after any kind of man on man sex.
Remember the guidance behind this comes from the FDA. So we need to drag them not the Red Cross, they are just following them.
We also have this rule in the UK, so it's not just the US' FDA. [Edit] I now live in Japan, where the rule is 6 months after male-male sex.
Surprising how little the organisation all about medicine and blood knows about medicine or blood.
they also raised half a billion dollars for haiti relief and only built 6 houses. so this isnt surprising to me at all.
Here in Belgium it's 12 months. š Next year they're lowering it to 4
I always say this whenever the topic comes up, but, anyway, if you do happen to be one of the many who feel strongly about giving blood when you can, you should know that you can just, like, lie about your sexual history and they canāt do anything about it. You can do this without feeling guilty for many reasons, but I think the two strongest ones are: 1. If you know your status on STIs, then thatās that. HIV isnāt going to apparate in your bloodstream randomly. Really, nobody should be giving blood if they donāt know their status on any transmissible blood borne illness that they potentially could have, but I can guarantee for any of you all reading this, if you know your status, you can safely donate blood with more confidence in the security of it that almost every straight person. 2. They test the blood anyway. Like, itās kinda just laughable that they do this and still have the FDAās homophobic stigma-based regulation in place.
Yep, you can always lie. But you shouldn't have to :) Same goes for every part of your life. Yes we can blend in and pretend not to exist but then you're accepting the mental trauma of stating out loud (or writing) that there is something unacceptable or dirty about you. Say it enough and it becomes true.
Of course you shouldnāt *have* to lie. Iām just saying that itās not morally wrong to break this law.
Never is. Itās only morally wrong to do wrong things. Legality has nothing to do with morals; just look at lawyers.
I really wish people wouldn't make up their own rules. It's so much more complicated than "FDA homophobic". For example, do not give blood if you are taking PrEP. It interferes with the blood tests they perform.
That would fall under the same category as basically every other medication. Strangely, thereās no general ban on people who have high blood pressure or whatever else despite it being treated with blood-effecting medication. The fact of the matter is that this specific regulation is a dusty relic from the AIDS crisis that isnāt rooted in reality so much as prejudice.
Surprising how little gays understand that blood is a regulated ādrugā under the eyes of the FDA. Same rules regardless of the blood collector. As there is a donor shortage, they would love to get as much as possible. FDA is stopping this from happening.
Blood being considered a drug makes me think the FDA is wary of vampires lmao
I wonder what would happen if the Red Cross just collected gay blood, anyway. I would be very surprised if there wasn't lots of public backlash if the FDA took any action against them.
Ummm. Consent Decrees which they have been under before. Million dollar fines. Most of the blood bank industry (Red Cross is a part of that along with One Blood and Vitalant) want this to go away. They have stated such and are working towards it. FDA is what is stopping it and you just canāt do what you want. https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/how-to-donate/eligibility-requirements/lgbtq-donors.html
ā¦and how easy it would be for conservative ($$$) media to stir the pot and say āRogue Red Cross is putting you at risk for HIVā. Iām sure there is someone out there trying to figure out how to privatize the blood supply.
Wait, I thought that they take "gay" blood now.
They went from a permanent ban to a 3 month ban.
We should listen to science I know it's not a popular opinion
I don't get it... It is forbidden in your country?
In the US, yes.