Students Protest Blood Drive Screening

Associated Press ^ | March 17, 2004

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Two student legislators at Western Oregon University have launched a drive to ban Red Cross blood drives on campus, claiming the donor screening process discriminates against gays.

The two students are particularly upset about a donor question that reads: "Are you a male who has had sex with another male since 1977, even once?"

The federal Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the Red Cross screening process, will not accept a donation from someone who answers 'yes' to the question, in order to help eliminate potentially HIV-tainted blood.

"By continuing to allow the Red Cross on our campus, the university is telling all the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students that we don't care about you," said student senator Shauna Bates, who is co-sponsoring the legislation.

If the resolution passes with a two-thirds majority vote of the senate's 14 members, no student-funded organization would be allowed to sponsor a blood drive. Current blood drives on campus, though, get their funding from the university's health services department.

A meeting on the topic Monday drew students and various health officials from the university and Red Cross opposing the move.

Student Molly Underwood said that matters of public health supersede those of discrimination.

"Just because somebody thinks something is unfair doesn't mean you should ban it," Underwood said. "Lives could be at stake."

[Redcoat LI]

My only suggestion would be that if you donated GLT blood, you'd have to take it when you needed a tranfusion.

Good Idea,solves the problem,and everyone is happy.

[TheBattman]

OF course - the supplies involved to take these potentially tainted "donations" are not free. Furthermore, if a potential donor IS infected with HIV - that places an additional risk to the volunteers and employees of the Red Cross who collect and handle those donations.

[Adder]

These clowns are in college and are no smarter than this?
We are seeing the results of public education in the last 10yrs bearing its ridiculous and idiotic fruit.

[Teacher317]

So a needle has to be wasted, a sterile line and storage bag must be wasted, a professional's time must be wasted, and the potential bio-hazard material must be disposed of properly, costing the Red Cross even more.... all so some idiot (who CARES what his preferences or circumstances!) can feel good about himself, while knowing full well that his "sacrifice" is worthless, unwanted, and wasteful. Just frickin' great.

The moron knows that this will waste resources that would otherwise go towards helping save lives, but his fffffffffeelings *spit* about his "sacrifice" are far more important. What a great guy.

[Trillian]

These vile, disgusting human beings want EVERYONE to suffer along with them with this plague they've unleashed on this earth!

[Dan from Michigan]

Here's the facts. Guys that sleep with other guys have a better chance to get AIDS. So are drug users.

They screen out those that sleep with prostitutes, sleep with those from some countries, travel to some places(for a period of time), tattoos(for a year), etc.

The reason is simple. Health.

[Teacher317]

Nope. The donor would sue for two causes: Equal Protection (he's "entitled" to the same blood as everyone else), and for reckless endangerment (just because he already HAS some disease does not mean that the organization can feel free to give him some potentially WORSE variant virus). Bet on it.

[Shethink13]

What a bunch of morons. I knew a hetrosexual hemophilac who contracted AIDS from a transfusion before the blood supply was tested.

Exactly. This is exactly how Ryan White (the poster-boy for AIDS) contracted it. That's why it always burned me how his family blamed Reagan and "right-wingers" for his plight and embraced the gay community, while in reality it was the gay community that were the reason he contracted the disease.

[gracie1]

What a bunch of idiots! Someone needs to inform this moron that these are FDA regulations that all blood and blood product donors are asked, regardless of whether it's being collected by the Red Cross or any of the other several commercial companies.

A few years ago the blood industry had to settle a class action suit from the 80's over the issue of tainted blood spreading AIDS to thousands of hemophiliacs and other blood recipients. It did not matter that at the time there were no reliable tests to detect HIV. The reasoning was that they should have been more proactive in protecting the welfare of the general population. I worked in the blood industry at the time of the settlement and we had people frequently asking questions like "what's this I hear you guys were selling AIDS?".

[GraceCoolidge]

The gay question is part of a lot of screening questions. I haven't given blood a lot lately, but I used to do it fairly often. As I recall, there were questions about sex, overseas travel, body piercings, hepatitis, tattoos, a whole range of stuff. The interview part took longer and longer because it seemed like questions were always being added. This stupidity is unbelievable. You also can't give blood if you are running a fever... is this discrimination, too?

[Truth'sBabyGirl]

"Then may we assume these angry students support 'don't ask, don't tell'?"

Actually, no. At Fordham Law (where I am a student) there are posters and other materials circulating, urging students to join in a legal action against Donald Rumsfeld, saying that when military recruiters come to our campus, they are violating Fordham's anti-discrimination policy, because they will not accept openly gay people. Try finding the logic in that!

[boomop1]

Perverts want their cake and eat it too, aids is a homosexual disease period end of message.

[Stellar Dendrite]

bump! thanks for the comprehensive links!

[gracie1]

You also can't give blood if you are running a fever... is this discrimination, too?

Yeah, and you also can't give blood if you take Propecia. Obviously discrimination against bald guys!

[GovernmentShrinker]

Obviously critical thinking isn't part of the curriculum at Western Oregon U.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

My point was that the Political Correctness issue has already been addressed.

That's not good enough for the homofascists, though.

Their tainted blood must actually be injected into someone to satisfy them.

[dayton law dude]

I know what you're talking about...as a former law school student, I can say my school did the exact same thing.

Sillyness...the schools are upset because the federal government has a right to withdraw funding from any school that refuses to allow military recruiters on campus. But the schools all have policies saying that recruiters from any corporations that come in cannot discriminate based on sexual orientation.

These lawsuits are just a waste of tuition and time.

[ApplegateRanch]

Why don't we throw all modern medical technology out the window while we are at it?

Wouldn't these be the same people who wanted to ban the use of techniques to save people suffering hypothermia (plane water-crash or ship sinking victems, or cold-water drowning victims) because the knowledge was "tainted" since it was based on Nazi "research"?

Claimed it was more "ethical" to let people die, than use "improperly discovered" techniques to save them, until the research could be carried out using ethical means.

[cherry]

"Amazing... they would have innocent people get AIDS to further the homonazi agenda."

99.9999999% of Hiv/aids blood donors will be filtered out due to the testing of blood.....

BUT WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU HAVE ANY GROUP WITH EXTREMELY HIGH INCIDENCE OF HIV/AIDS GIVE BLOOD , PERIOD.....

its a giant waste of money and time to test just anybody knowing that if you are a practicing homosexual your chances of having hiv are MULTITUDES higher than non-gay people....

BTW....they filter out people that use street drugs and visit prostitutes and have lived in a variety of African countries....and its all done in name of commone sense....

[cherry]

" Guys that sleep with other guys "

EUPHENISM ALERT..EUPHENISM ALERT!!!!!

let's call it like it is....they put their male sex organs in the other guys anal cavity and they do it exclusively that way....in the process they wreck the fragile blood vessels that are in the anal cavity and thus, they are prone to becoming infected with all sorts of diseases....