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I've always thought that this policy was incredibly stupid. Aren't blacks also more likely to get AIDS? Should blacks not be allowed to donate, either? Anyone can get AIDS if that person puts him/herself at risk for it, regardless of that person's sexuality. They need to test the blood if they want to be sure that there's nothing wrong with it. Being homosexual doesn't make someone have AIDS any more than not being one makes him safe from it.

I don't know about other places, but last I heard about my area, they had a sheet which asked if you'd ever had sex with someone of the same gender (or something along those lines). Sure you can lie about it, but the fact that it asks at all and that saying 'yes' is grounds for not being allowed to donate is really unsettling.

They do that here in the USA also. My friend is one of those people that will do anything if it means helping someone. He went and was filling out the sheet, and was next to one of the volunteers. As soon as they saw that he ticked the box that asked if he'd ever had "homosexual relations" they told him he couldn't donate his blood.

But he can donate his bone marrow. WTF?

That's ridiculous, I've heard that it's the same way in the US...just add that to the top of the list of stupid and ridiculous laws/policies

‡Dezziræ‡ wrote:

I've always known they asked. I thought it was just for information or something *Sigh*
I thought it was only the religion nuts that bashed the gays >< I am so glad I'm a female XD

Viva la Vagina!

I agree that the ban is stupid. I honestly thought that all blood was suppose to be screened for AIDS/HIV. If the blood is being screened, what does it matter if I have sex with a guy or girl? I think that it may be a sly form of discrimination on both the company's and government's part, but that's just me.

skylette wrote:I agree that the ban is stupid. I honestly thought that all blood was suppose to be screened for AIDS/HIV. If the blood is being screened, what does it matter if I have sex with a guy or girl? I think that it may be a sly form of discrimination on both the company's and government's part, but that's just me.

hear hear

I think it's just so because they can be more lazy in screening for diseases. After all, sometimes testing for Aids and HIV can take a while, and some areas need stored blood more badly than others.

But that's just a poor excuse for them, although it was actually the best one I could think of. -_-;;

I do think that whole thing is lame.

Besides everyone pretty much knows that blacks are the highest group to have AIDs/HIV in the world, and they're actually a largely heterosexual group. That's most tends to disavow condoms and other safe sex tools.
At least, Africa does that anyway....
Blacks in America is more likely to use safe sex methods than Africans, even if their AIDs rate is still pretty dismal.

I live in Ontario, and while it might bug me a little bit, it's very true that gay men are way more succeptible to HIV/AIDS. Where I'm from, it's a huge problem in my group of friends, and all the AIDS resourse networks are targetted towards the gay community.

I still don't see a huge problem with lying as long as you're sure you're clean (I have), it's just really important to use condoms around here because so many people are affected by AIDS and so few of them have a problem with lying about it.

EDIT: There's a chance that AIDS won't show up on screens if the donor hasn't had it for long. The virus has to be active in the blood for so long before it can be detected.

honestly i don't see the problem with it. no i'm not supporting discrimination against gays but they are just trying to keep people safe. Yes people who are not gay can get aids but i can still understand where they are coming from. I would rather piss a few gay people off then have people get aids from blood transfusions.

now i don't know anything about testing blood that would allow gays to donate blood as long as they passed such and such test was passed and i do think the rules should be changed but i'm not going to sit here and bash the people running the blood drive for trying to keep people from getting aids.