Posted on 07/13/2005 4:05:47 AM PDT by Dane
Gay men should be able to donate blood, students say College group pressures Red Cross
By STEVEN BODZIN Los Angeles Times July 11. 2005 8:06AM
WASHINGTON - For more than a decade, gay rights advocates have grumbled about a federal policy that forbids blood donation by men who have had sex with men.
They say that the policy, originally intended to keep HIV-positive blood from entering the nation's blood supply, implies gay men are inherently sick and that it prevents healthy people from donating.
Occasional protests and talks with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which oversees blood banks, have brought no change.
Now, some college students have taken up the cause, and they're taking a new tack. Instead of pressuring the FDA directly, they are going after the American Red Cross - the largest and highest-profile blood collector in the country.
Unlike America's Blood Centers, which represents the non-Red Cross blood banks that collect most of the nation's blood, the Red Cross publicly supports the policy. Activists say that if they can get the Red Cross to change its stance, the FDA will follow.
While many gay rights advocates have treated the blood ban as a low priority, college groups have begun to take on the issue. They argue that, although safe blood supplies are essential, this particular policy is outdated, ineffective and homophobic.
(Excerpt) Read more at concordmonitor.com ...
They want to contaminate it freely. This is really an effort to legalize bioterror. I will bet there are some who purposely attempt to poison the blood supply...
The reason the odds are so low for getting aids from the blood supply now is because queers are not allowed to donate blood, if they are allowed to do this the odds will jump considerably. If you wish to take transfusions from someone who quite possible has aids then, please, go right ahead, just don't ask the rest of us to take the same risk!
Exactly! I hope I never need blood,but if I do I would rather get it from my dog than a gay giver.
Gee, that's comforting.
later pingout.
Isn't there a pretty lengthy (6 months?) period of time where a person can be HIV positive but the tests will show up negative?
This is why the ban is necessary.
Also, donating blood is a privilege, not a right.
If they're infected, bygod you will be too.
Typical lib MO - make everyone else as miserable as you are.
Frankly, I just don't get it. There is no reward for having your blood transfused into another person. Some blood banks pay for blood, but you can still get that money and opt out from having the blood transfused, so even the financial incentive doesn't apply.
The only reason I can see for a high-risk person wanting his blood transfused is because he wants the medical authorities to "validate" his decision to engage in high-risk activity. As long as that question is asked of blood donors, it raises the unpleasant fact that certain sexual activity involves increased risk. But that is not the fault of the question. That's just reality.
De' Nile is not just a river in Egypt.
I know a gay man who openly stated in a sizable discussion group that he would not want to know if he had HIV!
A Psychoanalyst's Perspective: AIDS And The Death Wish (NARTH)
Gay Men Lament the Problem of Unsafe Sex in Poz (NARTH)
Rare STD turns up in San Francisco, prompting warning (Modesto Bee), FreeRepublic
Protesters back Milford teen who was rejected as blood donor (New Haven Register), FreeRepublic
AIDS rate for homosexuals climbs; data called 'astonishing' (BP News), FreeRepublic
HIV, AIDS cases rise among U.S. gay, bisexual men (Original Source Not Available)
Experts: Anti-AIDS Drugs Encourage Risky Behaviors (NARTH)
Staph infections linked to 'manscaping' (body shaving) (Southern Voice), FreeRepublic
The Many Myths of AIDS (Fumento)
Playing it unsafe (Metro Times), FreeRepublic
'Not a simple answer' for desert's syphilis problem (Blue Pages), FreeRepublic
"Crystal Meth" Use Boosts STD Rates Among Gay Men (Health Finder), FreeRepublic
"Crystal Meth" New Drug Of Choice On Gay Party Circuit (NARTH), FreeRepublic
Meth, Viagra increase STDs among gay men (MSNBC)
Gays' Use of Viagra and Methamphetamine Is Linked to Diseases (New York Times), FreeRepublic
The Beast in the Bathhouse; Crystal Meth Use by Gay Men Threatens to Reignite an Epidemic (New York Times), FreeRepublic
Rare infection may be risk to gay men in US (IOL)
2002 STD Treatment Guidelines recommendations for MSM - March 8, 2004 (CDC)
Antibiotic-resistant strain of syphilis is spreading (Original Source Not Available)
Police: Partiers Injected With Blood At Sex Parties (Local 6), FreeRepublic
The Immoral Minority (The Stranger), FreeRepublic
Homosexual Behavior a National Public Health Issue (News With Views)
Drug-proof gonorrhea rises in homosexuals (WorldNetDaily), FreeRepublic
'Gift' of potentially lethal sex is linked to rise in HIV cases (The Independent(UK))
Syphilis Relapse (Village Voice), FreeRepublic
Students Protest Blood Drive Screening (Original Source Not Available)
Internet blamed in spread of syphilis among gays (Yahooo), FreeRepublic
HIV/AIDS Statistics (NIH) (NIH)
New study: homosexual men promiscuous (BP News), FreeRepublic
Thanks scripter for posting the links.
Those links really do show how insidious and depraved the homosexual agenda is in modern day America.
Yes, the aformentioned Egyptian river is heard from again.
A lot of people who engage in this behavior are really screwed up individuals. That is one of the reasons the risks are so high, because so many of the people are suicidal. I don't think there will every be such a thing as "safe" promiscuous gay sex. Never was, never will be.
But I would hope that people would not go out of their way to infect anonymous people just for the pleasure of infecting them. People that sick are so rare we remember them you years. Folks still talk about the Tylenol poisoner after two decades have passed. Somebody could do the same thing tomorrow, but thankfully total jerks are few and far between.
There's a lot more to read, but perhaps the college students are still young enough to think they already know everything.
Doesn't the Red Cross test all the blood for HIV anyway? If that's the case, why would it be a bad thing for homosexuals to donate blood?
What makes you so confident?
You are joking, right? People do all kinds of things to harm others in this world. To imagine that someone would knowingly donate blood when HIV infected and not tell anyone isn't a stretch at all.
If you don't think someone would do this, remind yourself of that next time you try to open a bottle of Tylenol with it's 'safety seals'.
HA!!
The *perfect* solution.
...& quite *enlightened*, too. :o)
Yes the Red Cross does, but why take a chance and added time, when the incidence of HIV in homosexual circles is much higher and a proven fact.
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