Health : Will Gays Donate Blood?
You may have heard on the news today that the FDA is making some changes to the ban on men who have had sexual contact with other men since 1977 from donating blood. However, the proposed changes are not what I or others were expecting.
The original ban was started in 1983 as a result of the AIDS epidemic. Almost 32 years later, the ban is still in place. Back then, the ban made sense. HIV/AIDS was so rampant and there was little known about the virus/disease and they banned the group that it was hitting the most; men who were having sex with men.
More than just a week away from 2015, the ban is archaic and discriminatory. MSM, as it is now known, is not just the only group of people that are at risk for HIV/AIDS. EVERYONE is at risk.
We all know that once blood is donated that it is tested for all kinds of diseases, including HIV. The FDA is seeking to change the policy to allow gay men who abstain from having sex for a whole year to donate blood.
Per the FDA, “an estimated 77% of diagnosed HIV infections among males were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact.” In 2010, male-to-male sex accounted for at least 61% of all new HIV infections in the United States.
According to healthline.com, For every 10,000 instances of receptive [bottom] anal intercourse, the virus is likely to be transmitted 138 times. Insertive [top] anal intercourse has a lower risk probability with 11 infections per 10,000 exposures. Nowhere in that statement states who is transmitting the disease; men, women, gay, straight, white, black, Asian or Mexican.
I appreciate the FDA making an attempt to revise the ban but I am not sure if this is a step forward or a 2 steps back. It’s still discriminatory again gay men. No other group is being asked to wait an entire year without having sex to donate blood. Straight couples and drug users are just as susceptible to becoming HIV Positive as a gay man. It’s not fair that we are being asked to wait a year to have sex to donate and straight couples and people are not.
In the video that I watch from cnn.com, someone stated that there is a need for a blood transfusion every 2 seconds in the US. There are about 53,000 gay men that could make 89,000 more donations if allowed.
The bottom line to my post is this; this is still discrimination again gay men no matter how you look at it. There are not going to be many gay men who can or will wait an entire year just so they can donate. And if there are in a relationship or married, that could cause additional problems up to the other partner straying away to get their needs met.
What are your thoughts on the topic? Could you abstain from having sex for a full 365 days just to donate blood?
Jason
…that haven’t had sex for at least a year? I’ve known a lot of gay people in my life but I’ve only met TWO that didn’t have sex on a regular basis. Where is the FDA expecting to find these non-sexual gay people? This is laughable, but not the least bit funny!
So, I guess the FDA is hoping to corner the market by getting all the gay priests and gay nuns that have wanted to donate blood for so many years, but couldn’t?
it’s 2 step backwards verses going a step forward. i heard the same thing on cnn and here is where i get mad. why don’t drug users have to have a year free of doing drugs to donate blood, to the straight man to wait a year for him as well. every time i hear something about hiv and aids its always blaming the gays.. guess what the gays are not the ones passing it around, its you damn DL, trade, and bi men are. yes i’m talking to yall, the same group of men who go around your wife’s back sleeping with men and going to your wife’s face saying you love her, the same group of men who say they str8 but yet sleep with men. yes yall the ones who gave gay men a bad reputation, but moving on. though i think its great that the FDA is trying to lift the ban but i think its still a step in the wrong direction for that step, we should be moving forward and it always seems that we are moving backwards. education of aids is out there and i know so many men who are stupid and dumb as a box of bricks when it comes to knowing anything about hiv/aids. the funny thing is people place a “scarlet” letter on the person who is hiv positive and is showing up undetectable and taking his meds like they are suppose and taking all the precaution necessary to prevent the spread of the disease and that same guy is the guy you see on here or at the club or some bath house getting “loads” pumped into him without knowing the status of any of his partners. i think the FDA needs to go ahead and become more informative about hiv and aids then decide what the appropriate action will be and no not for just only gays but for all people.. education is the key..
Could I? Yes. Should I have to? No.
I’ve always found these rules to be very wrong ever since I was 17 and my 15 yr old cousin was dying of cancer. She needed blood and we have the same blood type. So I donated.
I don’t donate either way because needles make me squeamish. Ionly allow needles to get close to me when required per Marine Corps standard,
I know a group of men including myself who already donate. We simply just say we are straight. I get tested every 3 months and have never had any positive results. I agree with you though, everyone is at risk so why are gay men not allowed to donate. I read a story that about 30% of gay men already are current donors.
I think it is fantastic that the FDA is allowing gay men to donate blood, it is another hurdle of discrimination that the gay community had endured and can now not worry about. However, I still feel that they is a presence of risk and therefore for safety reasons I do not believe it is necessary that blood which has the possibility to be tainted with HIV should not be allowed enter the blood bank community. There is still many contributions that the gay community can make to be involved within our own community or any other.
I have a blood disorder in which I have had over 200 pints of blood taken out in the last 5 yrs 1 per month, would love to have known that it was going to be used to save a life , not be thrown away ?Hope this changes very soon
I’m still offended by this! This is still discriminatory and totally wrong! Yes, gay men and even bi men like me have to put 100% straight in order to donate. I do take some offense to the above statement blaming bisexual men for the spread of HIV/AIDS. I’m bisexual and responsible. I agree that DL men and some bisexual men transmit the disease from getting it on with everything that walks, but just like any sexual orientation, there is a transmitter of the disease in that group. We shouldn’t be discriminating amongst ourselves, gay, straight, bi, questioning… But rather acknowledge that yes there is a problem and the FDA needs to get more stuff together. But comments like the ones above make me hesitant to admit I am bi… I get flack from the straight and even gay community when I say that.
Abstaining from having sex for a year? That is the most unabashed hypocritical nonsense I have ever read. All of the people at the FDA are nothing but passive aggressive homophobic hypocrites. The WHO did nothing to warn the international community about the health crisis that erupted within West Central Africa in the 1960’s. Forgive me for my blatant cynicism but too many in both these agencies were just to damn heartless at the hidden cost of so many innocent lives a major quarter being heterosexual men and women. Although I have been angry at various US Agencies over the years, I never blamed their past actions in the face of an overwhelming odds of the HIV/AIDS crisis during the early years. However even that action backfired astronomically, policy and research were struggling to catch up.
It’s about damn time! 2 years ago, I decided to donate blood at one of the mobile donating sites when I was going to Rx Tech college for the 1st time. After I was asked if I ever slept with men before, & said yes, I was told that I couldn’t donate. I told them that I just got tested the month before, but still unable. I was really pissed, & then hurt, I actually cried when I left. That was the very 1st time in my life that I actually knows how it feels to be discriminated, it was a big blow….
Well…I wanted to donate after much pep talk from a friend. But when the question came if you had sex with a man for the past months and replied yes I was told I will not able to donate due to regulations. But that is crazy cause It was a few months back, tested frequently and it was with protection. And if I said no I would have donated like any other. This rule only applies when you lie when the question is asked. So to be able to help out others in need gay men have to lie
I applaud the effort of wanting to help, but i am so sick and tired of people treated gay people like we are already infected and don’t have any intelligence.. so if they don’t want our help because not all of us are infected… i say F U C K them…..
Not a good ideal look at all the gay men on here that doesn’t practice safe sex. Not saying straight people do but most gay guys are reckless sexually.
I used to donate blood and simply lie about my orientation, until I realized I was participating in my own discrimination. With this new policy, I’ll continue to refuse to donate through my honesty. When they start treating us as at least as well as drug addicts, they can have my universal donor blood type again.
i just donated a couple months ago myself. But they didn’t ask me if I’ve had gay sex they just asked sex within the last 3 month. I’d be ok with this. I never have sex on a frequent basis since no one in this town wants to date and I don’t fuck around. People need blood transfusions all the time, and as much as our body produces I say let’s help out!!
I don’t think that anyone can go a year without sex, just to donate blood. Unless your at a time in your life that sex is far and few between. The FDA guidelines are set as a guidance for those who donate blood and if there is a chance of passing something on then don’t take it by giving blood. If you know your negative and get checked regularly, then say your strait if you have to donate. The blood is checked anyway and if you do come up positive they will inform you.
I still think that the majority of people coming up infected are bi or gay males, as I haven’t met one strait male who has hiv. I’m sure they are out there, but in my world it seems everyone who’s gay and has an account on Adam4Adam is positive regardless if they lie about it on their profile. I’ve met a lot of people who do not want to admit it to anyone, and it’s the don’t ask, and I won’t tell attitude that makes us a group of liars and people who cannot be trusted to tell the truth, wether we lie about our sexuality, or when the last time we had sex.
I’m fine not being allowed to give blood as I used to frequently, but I think the discrimination is just and there for a good reason.
My question is: why isn’t there a cure for it yet?
I have a rather rare blood type. My mom needs a kidney. Would I give blood, yes! Still neg after all these years and was a bottom boy, bare. I can take most blood, and would give if I could. Abstain for a year? Not. The blood is tested after all.
What does the FDA think that by gays donating blood it will make them gay. Don’t they screen the blood anyway. What about those who do sleep with the same sex but consider themselves still straight but really are straight gay and still in the closet. What about those supposedly married to the opposite sex but still have sex with other married couples. Are those called singers
I meant to say swingers. Maybe they need to really consider what their mission really is and start thinking on how they can help people instead more without this type of discrimination.
Well thank god! We gays are actually useful after years of people telling us that we aren’t . Cheers to the FDA … finally somebody actually has a brain …..
This ban has been ridiculous since EVERY DONATION is tested for HIV and just about everything else before it is ever used with a patient.
Do they ever bother to ask if the donor practiced safe sex using condoms? Do they ask if he’s a top or a bottom? Do they ask all the gritty details? Do they ask all the heterosexuals about what strangers they may have fucked with?
Ridiculous.
Whatever. If someone doesn’t want my blood, they don’t have to take it. Let them wait until they find someone that suits them.
Pfft.
I already do donate I just say i’m str8 and I test every 6 months and have always tested NEG
The Red Cross sells the blood for outrageous money. Their employees regularly get trashed by management and have next to no benefits. The Red Cross puts their business out there as a charity, it is anything but a charity. Fuck the Red Cross. Bigoted bastards.
I myself will never donate again. I did it once at 16 years old
For a school function.unknown to me was gays couldnt donate.well i answered my question honestly.they did the whole routine and released me.I got a phone call telling me that I need to come up to the Blood bank for my test results.i was informed at 16 i had not Hiv but AIDS. Caused alot of emotional stress. Depression. Finally after several months of feeling as if my life was over. I went and had extensive bloodwork done. Finding out i didnt have any STD. to this day I question whether or not the blood bank did it because of my honesty… or i really tripped something that day. I do get tested every 6 months weather active or not
If all blood is tested anyways, why can’t gay men donate? I consider myself queer and rarely have sex with men or women. Recently, after a hiatus of many years, I tried to donate blood and found out about this rule and was shocked to know that my a+ blood was not considered viable by the FDA.
Why be pushed into the closet to donate blood?
I was also asked to lie on the questionnaire to donate.
I would never do that and be untrue to myself. If they don’t want my perfectly good donation fuck them.
This is the first that I have heard that gays can’t donate. Now it is okay provided they wait a year? What a strange request. If the blood is being tested anyway, why shouldn’t those who wish to donate do so? If the blood is tested and it is infected, then the donor can be notified. The only reason you shouldn’t donate is if you knowingly are HIV positive, right?
Fuck No. I am HIV Negative and I will never donate my Clean Blood because I have been turned down because of I was Gay. I was willing at the time But don’t do me any favors now that you will accept my Blood. I’m not willing to give it for my feelings have already been hurt and I can give a Shit about anyone who would need it. Fuck Off Mother Fuckers. This is My Clean Gay Blood and you can’t have it.
it’s a fascinating subject, this study of how people discriminate against other people. it’s been happening since man was able to walk upright, and it will continue until man no longer exists. I am not happy about the fact that I cannot donate blood, but I would be upset knowing that the supply might be tainted, so I can understand the restrictions. now, if gay men want to help the human community at large, there are lots and lots of ways to do that. blood donation is not the only means of helping otheres. sounds to me like a lot of people bemoaning they can’t find an easy way to help. lying on a bed with a needle in your arm is extremely easy. try not taking the lazy way out and find a group that needs your actual presence and input to further benefit mankind.
I don’t want to be immature about the subject but if they want to hold it against me who I sleep with even when exercising the highest procautions and this being 2014 (almost 2015) when people know better or should know better, then theys could go screw themselves for all I care, I aint giving them a drop of my precious God-given blood. Id rather keep it in my veins. Now if it were a good friend or family member’s life at stake, then that is different. But just in general hell to the no!
And while I could get around everything by saying im straight, and I’m not condemning or passing judgement on those who do, I aint stooping to their level and saying im something I’m not just because of their ignorance. I mean no offense by this whatsoever so please nobody take it that way. I am myself offended by the simple policy is all. There has to be other and better ways.
i’ve been donating blood for the past 15 years. as a sexually active gay man, i lie on the that questionnaire. as a health care professional, i know how much they test and re-test the blood they receive. and every time i donate my blood i receive a post card saying my blood and it’s parts have saved a life or lives… you just have to be smarter than they are. just avoid the red cross use your local blood banks.
This comment is just to clarify a few inaccurate assumptions made in the article and comments because, while we view this ban as discriminatory, we must also understand that it is hard for the greater population to take our arguments seriously when HIV is once again on the rise in the gay community- something incredibly painful to watch happen once again. Gay men are defined as a high-risk population for HIV because while we only account for 7% of the male population, we account for 78% of all HIV transmission, with almost 18% of the gay community being HIV positive. Therefore, we can’t say that we are equally (or less) likely to contract HIV than the rest of the population. Additionally, from 2008 to 2010, HIV infections increased by 12%. The greatest problem here lies within the millennial generation (age 15-24 group) who only accounts for 17% of the gay male population but 23% of new transmissions. If we are going to fight for the health of others, we must fight for the health of our own community first and show that we are healthy and able to safely donate blood. This issue that we are discussing is far greater than a simple problem of discrimination, and we need to look at every level of its complexity.
Most gay men are nasty AF I don’t think they should with the amount of guys who have unprotected bb sex then claim they are neg its like the gay community wants to spread HIV
I wont claim that I read all the comments because I didn’t but know it or not gays have been donating blood since the dawn of time. its just that men who claim homosexuality OR men who are flamboyant in there ways got turned down. how many times have “discreet” or “trade” men donated blood for the stipend of $45-$50? I don’t ping as gay and I donated blood plenty times to get pocket change.
If my memory is correct, the reason gay men are targeted by this restriction is that, when it was enacted, the vast majority of diagnosed HIV cases IN THE UNITED STATES were among gay men. The US legal system did not consider that, in Africa, where HIV started, the majority of cases were in straight individuals, and many were straight women infected by their straight sex partners. The US medical and other institutions have since treated HIV as if virtually no straight people were infected. Hence, the continued ban on gay men donating blood, even though we now have much better testing procedures than we did in the 1980s. The system, in all its rampant stupidity, would prevent HIV negative gay men from donating blood while allowing HIV positive straight men to donate blood because it is assumed that straight men must be negative. I don’t think this is 2 steps backward, but it definitely is not a step forward. I think it was designed to make us think progress was being made while keeping us exactly where we were before.
Fuck ’em !
I really hope the guys here justifying the ban because of the (in reality, non-existent) chance of HIV transmission based on our higher rates of infection are able to donate every year, because no one should fuck self-loathing homophobic tools like them.
Before I came out and became sexually active, I donated blood to the ARC as often as I could under their policy. When I became sexually active with my then boyfriend at the time, I stopped donating since I was no longer viable for donation. I know I could lie about it, but I chose to play by the rules and wait for the day I could start donating again without stipulation. This news is such a slap in the face to gay men. No sex for 365 days? Ok. Fine. Then set the rules to ensure that anyone who wants to donate…make them also wait through the 365 celibacy period. It’s only fair.
And now…I await again for the day I can help others who are in need of something very basic.
Who the hell wants this bullshit….i say fuck’em and why bother….You know my old man told me about the Red Cross back in the end of World War 2…he said they were bastards and never help any of the soldiers in their time of need….That is one U.S. organization that has hid their corruptive ways for years!….Guys why bother, yah got better things to do.
Come on guys get real. Do you really want to take the chance of infecting somebody with HIV or any other disease? Even Someone with basic knowledge of how HIV is transmitted knows that the disease may be in your bloodstream but not show up for at least a month. As a whole, gay men are the most self-centered,selfish and immature class of men around. This whole thing of being upset from being banned for donating blood is silly and immature. It is not a matter of being discriminated against but practicing good health care management. As another contributor noted, gay men as a whole are very casual in they’re safe sex practices. Almost every gay porn vid show bareback sex….one of the leading ways to transmit hiv. I for one would not want one of my family members (or yours either) contracting a killer disease because some fool practices unsafe sex and feels “discrimated against”. There are real issues that need to be addressed in the fight against discrimation and this is not one of them!
My though is the same now as it was then. Fuck the FDA and Fuck the Red Cross. I will never donate blood at all.
Yes, I have had sex with a guy in the last year dozens of times. He is married to a woman. And he jacked me off and sucked on my balls. Am I not allowed to donate?
I have no desire to abstain from sex. So, there is no chance of me donating blood. The establishment can look elsewhere for much needed blood.
I refuse to. No matter what the circumstances are I won’t. It’s taken this long to get even close to donating blood. It’s ridiculous. Especially considering that heterosexuals rarely use protection because their main concern is pregnancy and they completely forget that HIV exists until they hear the word GAY.
My understanding is that all donated blood is tested for HIV and other infectious diseases now anyway. So yes, gay men should be able to donate blood. Maybe, at last, some of them will finally learn of their poz status, even if it comes from mandatory testing of their blood.
And no, being poz myself, I will never try to donate blood.
I’be learned of this after sep 11 and was upset cuz I was not into the gay “lifestyle” or known much about it. I knew the statistics but just numbers did not impress me. Now, since I have more gay friends who live the “lifestyle” , and I hear how many guys they go thru a week and the barebacking is quite acceptable in our community those dry statistic numbers became ” alive” so I gave to agree with this ” descrimibatory” ban. You wanna save a life when donating blood not put it in jeopardy. I know my opinion is not the popular one.
I’ve tried to donate blood a number of times over the years and was met with the “we can’t accept blood from homosexuals”. The FDA can kiss my ass! Do they realize how much blood they’re passing up with their present and proposed policy?? And, why is they’re allowed to discriminate like this?? Yeah…change your rules all you want…you won’t be getting my blood anytime soon.
Since the majority of HIV infections are coming from gay men,I think the ban is wise. No one should be placed at risk just so gays can donate.
Even if your blood is tested neg, your blood can still be infected because if you recently became infected, it may be too soon for a test to detect it, yet you can still pass the infection on to another even though you tested neg.
A blanket ban is unwise, as is a 1 year waiting period. If HIV is going to be the bugaboo, why do other people at high risk (people who recently got tatoos, str8 people having unprotected sex, etc.) for diseases not have to wait a year? And how many gay people are going to be celbate for a year just so they can give a pint of blood?
In the end, gay men who want to give blood will lie to the questionner just like they have since the 1980s when asked if they’ve had sex with another man. The blood will be tested just like it always is. And any contaminated blood will be removed, just like now. NOTHING is going to change.
Responding to Pageboy50, because I just can’t resist:
“Come on guys get real. Do you really want to take the chance of infecting somebody with HIV or any other disease?”
No. Since they test all donations, this is irrelevant. We aren’t the only demographic with this disease. When was the last time you heard of someone getting infected through a blood donation? Do the math.
“Even Someone with basic knowledge of how HIV is transmitted knows that the disease may be in your bloodstream but not show up for at least a month.”
And since it’s blood that’s being donated, and blood being tested, it will show up when the blood is tested, because it’s in the blood.
“As a whole, gay men are the most self-centered,selfish and immature class of men around. This whole thing of being upset from being banned for donating blood is silly and immature. It is not a matter of being discriminated against but practicing good health care management.”
Oh, I see. Another self-loathing gay homophobe. Could you do us all a favor and just go through reparative therapy or back in the closet or something already?
“As another contributor noted, gay men as a whole are very casual in they’re safe sex practices.”
As are straight men and women.
“Almost every gay porn vid show bareback sex….one of the leading ways to transmit hiv.”
Your VHS collection from the 80s doesn’t count, and this is not true at all.
“I for one would not want one of my family members (or yours either) contracting a killer disease because some fool practices unsafe sex and feels “discrimated against”.”
So kind of you. Since it’s not a risk, your delicate sympathies should be assuaged.
“There are real issues that need to be addressed in the fight against discrimation and this is not one of them!”
Actually, they all are, including this one, especially since it has an actual public health implication for more people than just us. (You know, the ones you pretend to care about.) It reduces the supply of blood overall, which can have drastic implications during emergencies and natural disasters. But hey, we’re just selfish and immature faggots, anyway, so fuck it. Right?
I normally don’t weigh in on any of these types of dialogues, however on this one I have difficulty not doing so. My first Boyfriend was denied the right to give blood when he was 17, since then I have chosen to pay attention to the arguments, and actions addressing this issue My first statement is simply this. LIARS! I have had a lot of people in my life that have been in the medical fields, many of whom will not give blood. They would specifically prefer to receive Plasma made in a lab instead of donated blood… why?? because though the standard protocol states that all donations are tested, That is a big fat LIE, they test sample batches from donations, based upon COST and quantity available. Second the statistics that a few people have chosen to place in their commentary… Highly inaccurate. first of all the numbers are skewed to attempt to reflect homosexuals as deviant diseased catalysts. How can it be that 78% of transmission of HIV and AIDS comes from gay men when only in 2010 68% of reported transmission was documented as being from assumed HETEROsexual black females. how can the numbers change that drastically? One of the biggest problems is that these reports get released based solely on biased opinions.
They Should test every sample like they say they do! But if you’re going to decided that my blood needs to be more thoroughly checked because I have had more sexual contact this year than I did last year, then do so. But don’t treat me so negatively and push me away from standing up to help my fellow humans, just because I enjoy recreating what the ancients knew was right!!