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I Am a Gay Man From Orlando. Why Can’t I Donate Blood? (N.Y. Times)
The New York Times ^ | 6/15/16 | Blake Lynch

Posted on 06/15/2016 9:35:06 AM PDT by Faith Presses On

...This week we faced a new challenge: mass violence in the very place we felt most comfortable, accepted and secure. After the attack, the city of Orlando and the state of Florida mobilized. Officials called on people in the area to donate blood for those who were injured in the shooting. Thousands of people have reportedly lined up to donate. But some of them — gay and bisexual men — are unable to.

As a registered nurse, I know the importance of donated blood...

(snip)

But many of the people who felt the tragedy most closely can’t offer their help. That's because the Food and Drug Administration bars sexually active gay men from donating. This ban is ostensibly in place to protect blood supplies from being contaminated with H.I.V. But it dates from a time before H.I.V. testing was standard practice for blood donations. It is now generally agreed that H.I.V. can be detected in the blood of an infected person within a matter of weeks. Donors should be assessed according to their risk — not their sexual orientation. In the wake of a hateful attack that left over a hundred people from our community dead or injured, this ban must be removed.

(snip)

Several years ago, I went to donate blood for a friend in nursing school who suffers from sickle cell anemia. To my shock, I was turned away after filling out a questionnaire that asked if I had ever had sexual contact with another man. According to the F.D.A.’s policy at the time, I was barred from donating blood for life. I was embarrassed and outraged. A few days later, my boyfriend (now husband) and I started a project called Banned4Life to fight this outdated policy.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: blooddonation; fda; getoveritsnowflake; hiv; homosexualagenda; orlando
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To: Admin Moderator

Someone else must have removed it. I don’t see it anymore on the News/Activism page.


41 posted on 06/15/2016 10:23:53 AM PDT by Faith Presses On (Above all, politics should serve the Great Commission, "preparing the way for the Lord.")
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To: CarmichaelPatriot

“”Because, until the HIV test is proven to be 100% accurate, your blood might give someone a death sentence.””

I can see this as being the next “cause” to plague us with. We are just - fill in the blank - for not understanding how offensive this position/attitude is. We just have to GET WITH IT and accept all the negatives that come from that lifestyle. We will be the bad guys!!!! The rest of us don’t matter!!!


42 posted on 06/15/2016 10:24:46 AM PDT by Thank You Rush
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To: Faith Presses On

Dear Homosexual,
Too bad , too sad, you don’t care if you kill people.
That makes you as bad as the Muzzie demon who did the deed.
So Solly.


43 posted on 06/15/2016 10:24:58 AM PDT by right way right (May we remain sober over mere men, for God really is our one and only true hope.)
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To: Faith Presses On

How about we allow “Gays” to give their blood ONLY to other “gays?”


44 posted on 06/15/2016 10:26:12 AM PDT by goodnesswins (Alinsky.....it's what's for dinner: with Cloward Piven for Dessert)
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To: Faith Presses On

I saw on the news that homosexuals were allowed to donate blood in the Orlando area. I thought that prohibition had already been repealed nationwide. If it hasn’t, there is a movement afoot to do just that.


45 posted on 06/15/2016 10:27:11 AM PDT by AlaskaErik (I served and protected my country for 31 years. Progressives spent that time trying to destroy it.)
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To: Enchante

I just get tired of hearing people and reading people saying Trump should do this and Trump should do that...well it’s not a false assumption... it’s a fact...

I’m sure there are a lot of people on here that do get information out, but on the other hand, if you read the articles posted and then read some of the replys, you understand all they do is read the headline and go from there...

We are in this together, and we all have to work together, hence the remark about where to send information to...a lot of people don’t know, you and I probably do, and do it, but there are some that could care less.


46 posted on 06/15/2016 10:27:44 AM PDT by HarleyLady27 ('THE FORCE AWAKENS!!!' Trump; Trump; Trump; Trump; 100%)
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To: RegulatorCountry; WKUHilltopper; AlaskaErik; goodnesswins; JimRed; right way right

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3440457/posts?page=35#35

See that post of mine in this thread. It discusses how the FDA already settled all this. They issued a long report last year that went through all the studies they’ve done on the issue and thoroughly discussed all the options. It left no stone unturned. And they concluded the ban was necessary.

Yet virtually every mainstream media outlet is publishing a “lift the ban” story and completely ignoring the FDA report that is publicly available online.

That report is a GREAT, definitive resource, with answers to every question on the issue. I posted excerpts from it here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3440453/posts


47 posted on 06/15/2016 10:29:27 AM PDT by Faith Presses On (Above all, politics should serve the Great Commission, "preparing the way for the Lord.")
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To: Faith Presses On

I served in Germany for 10 years. I can’t give blood. Get over yourself.


48 posted on 06/15/2016 10:29:54 AM PDT by Gamecock ( Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul...Matthew 10:28)
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To: Faith Presses On

Dear Gay Man from Orlando, Because you are probably indiscriminate in your choice of sexual partners. Your feelings don’t trump public health concerns.


49 posted on 06/15/2016 10:31:23 AM PDT by lastchance (Credo.)
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To: Enchante

I remember an interview on a TV “news” show back in the early 80s with a homosexual who said that if AIDS was commonly spread among heterosexuals that research funding would increase dramatically, so the homosexualists were going to donate blood whenever possible.

Folks in your position are most at risk.


50 posted on 06/15/2016 10:31:37 AM PDT by JimRed (Is it 1776 yet? TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Build the Wall, NOW!)
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To: HarleyLady27

I’ve just heard of that in recent years. I only just read a little about it since there are so many other things to read about, including many other scandals, but I hope that criminal scandal does get more attention during the election.


51 posted on 06/15/2016 10:32:28 AM PDT by Faith Presses On (Above all, politics should serve the Great Commission, "preparing the way for the Lord.")
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To: Faith Presses On

“Yet virtually every mainstream media outlet is publishing a “lift the ban” story and completely ignoring the FDA report that is publicly available online.”

Because the MSM traitors want you dead.


52 posted on 06/15/2016 10:32:39 AM PDT by WKUHilltopper (And yet...we continue to tolerate this crap...)
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To: All

From the FDA’s 2015 report on the issue:

Although MSM represent a small percentage of the U.S. male population (approximately 7% of men report that they have ever participated in MSM activity and approximately 4% of men report that they engaged in MSM activity in the last 5 years 1 ) (Ref. 26), they comprise a large proportion of adults in the United States with existing and newly diagnosed HIV infections. Among persons living with HIV in 2012, CDC estimates that 56% were MSM (including MSM who were also IDU) (Ref. 27).

MSM remain at increased risk of HIV infection. In 2010, the majority of new HIV infections were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact: 63% among all adults and 78% among men, indicating that male-to-male sexual contact remains associated with high risk of HIV exposure (Ref. 28).

* * *

Sex with an HIV-positive partner was associated with a 132-fold increase in risk (multivariable adjusted odds ratio) for being HIV-positive, and a history of male-to-male sexual contact was associated with a 62-fold increase in risk.

By comparison, the increase in risk for a history of multiple sexual partners of the opposite sex in the last year was 2.3-fold.

* * *

In addition, the compliance rate with the one-year MSM deferral among male donors in Australia following the policy change was >99.7% (Ref. 37).

Of note, donors in Australia must sign a declaration in the presence of blood center staff that they understand that there are penalties, including fines and imprisonment, for providing false or misleading information. No such declaration is required in the United States, nor are donors advised of penalties for providing false or misleading information.

* * *

However, some have argued that a five-year deferral would, in theory, add a safeguard by allowing time for intervention against an emerging infectious disease that might spread rapidly among MSM and be transmitted through blood transfusion.

* * *

Specifically, the rate of partner infidelity in ostensibly monogamous heterosexual couples and same-sex male couples is estimated to be about 25%, and condom use is associated with a 1 to 2% failure rate per episode of anal intercourse (Refs. 38, 39, 40, 41).

In addition, the prevalence of HIV infection is significantly higher in MSM with multiple male partners compared with individuals who have only multiple opposite sex partners (Ref. 28).

* * *

However, in the setting of the approximately 50,000 new HIV infections per year in the United States, conservative calculations performed by FDA estimate that this approach could potentially be associated with an approximately four-fold increase in HIV transmissions resulting from blood transfusions each year.

Such a policy, increasing the potential for the transmission of HIV infection, is not aligned with maintaining or improving the safety of the blood supply in the U.S.

* * *

In addition, self-report of monogamy cannot be relied upon because of the relatively high rate of infidelity between partners in any type of sexual relationship (Ref. 38). Even if a potential donor is truthful in providing responses regarding his or her own behavior, the response may not be meaningful if a partner has not been monogamous.

* * *

As a group, in the United States, MSM have the highest HIV risk: according to CDC, two-thirds of new HIV infections occur in the approximately 2% of the population who are MSM (Ref. 27). The risk of HIV among MSM is more than twenty-fold higher than that of men who have sex with multiple female partners and women who have sex with multiple male partners (Ref. 32).

Thus, absent another scientifically-validated way of identifying individuals at highest risk of transmitting HIV, a time-based deferral for MSM since last sexual encounter is the one deferral policy that has been demonstrated to be effective in a setting with similar HIV epidemiology to the United States.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3440453/posts


53 posted on 06/15/2016 10:37:25 AM PDT by Faith Presses On (Above all, politics should serve the Great Commission, "preparing the way for the Lord.")
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To: HarleyLady27

“War on Women pages 261-262”

Good information. I was going to look for that on the www.

Could you post a link to where you found it? Thanks.


54 posted on 06/15/2016 10:39:40 AM PDT by Syncro (Benghazi-LIES/CoverupIRS-LIES/CoverupDOJ-NO Justice-/Marxist Treason ARREST!)
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To: Lazamataz
I’m mixed on this one. If there are instant disease checks available, I don’t see why gays can’t donate blood.

If I’m an operating table, I don’t care who’s blood it is, as long as its been tested for diseases.

Because we know all the variations of virally transmitted sexual diseases Homosexuals may have been exposed to and have a test for each and every one.

Are you kidding me? Homosexuals might have 500-1000 sexual partners in their lifetime. There are thousands of variations of diseases which we do not have tests for, or for which there are complicated and time consuming tests.

It's like taking a chance with third world blood and diseases which it might have that we haven't yet even discovered.

I will remind you that AIDS went all through the blood supply and killed people before we even knew what it was or could test for it.

Do you think some other new disease, or a variant of an old one could not do the same thing?

Homosexuals should be banned from contributing blood under any circumstances. To do otherwise is simply gambling with another person's life just to make queers feel good about themselves. (With a suicide rate north of 40%, they must have very little to feel good about.)

55 posted on 06/15/2016 10:42:32 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: Faith Presses On
Because your blood has cooties. Doesn't even have to be HIV. We have 4 flavors of Hepatitis now. Most have gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, or any number of other STD's. Just as a general rule, if you have sex with feces, you are generally sick and can't mix with normal people. If I had my way, you couldn't work in a restaurant or handle food in any way. You certainly shouldn't be allowed to marry because any children adopted or brought in from another arrangement is subject to your constant infections. Since you make up less than 3% of the population, we have plenty of others that can give blood. We have police officers, children, cancer patients, and soldiers that don't want your blood. They are sick enough.

If you really want to help your brethren, think of giving them a personal rectum injection to keep it all in the family. We don't want it.

56 posted on 06/15/2016 10:43:27 AM PDT by chuckles
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To: DiogenesLamp; Lazamataz

From the FDA report on the issue:

“However, some have argued that a five-year deferral would, in theory, add a safeguard by allowing time for intervention against an emerging infectious disease that might spread rapidly among MSM and be transmitted through blood transfusion.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3440453/posts


57 posted on 06/15/2016 10:44:15 AM PDT by Faith Presses On (Above all, politics should serve the Great Commission, "preparing the way for the Lord.")
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To: Faith Presses On

Maybe because this would be happening a blood donation centers?
June 15, 2016 Cops: Woman Ran Over Boyfriend With Car After Learning He Was HIV Positive


58 posted on 06/15/2016 10:44:20 AM PDT by Harpotoo
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To: DIRTYSECRET
It’s because you don’t know what your buttonhole is for......I agree 100%. You know there is an old saying “If you will just set on you all and keep your mouth shut” you'll not likely get Aids...or Hemorrhoids.
59 posted on 06/15/2016 10:44:55 AM PDT by mastertex
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To: AlaskaErik

“I saw on the news that homosexuals were allowed to donate blood in the Orlando area.”

That seemed to be a rumor that got reported as truth. OneBlood has even shifted to the one-year ban, from what I’ve read.

“I thought that prohibition had already been repealed nationwide. If it hasn’t, there is a movement afoot to do just that.”

It hasn’t. It’s a one-year ban now, in which gay men must not have had sexual contact in that period.


60 posted on 06/15/2016 10:50:23 AM PDT by Faith Presses On (Above all, politics should serve the Great Commission, "preparing the way for the Lord.")
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