Government needs to rethink outdated, unnecessary requirements for blood donation
If you want to make a difference, donate your blood. The American Red Cross always struggles with blood donations, and this year is no different. Our national blood supply is at its lowest level in 15 years, and with the Mid-Atlantic still struggling after Hurricane Sandy, every single blood donation is important. Luckily for us Gamecocks, this week is the 28th Annual Carolina/Clemson Blood Drive. In our effort to beat Clemson this year, blood donation sites will circulating throughout campus during the week. You have absolutely no legitimate reason not to donate blood — unless, of course, you’re gay.
Every year, I, along with countless others, will not be able to participate in blood drives here in the U.S. It isn’t because we’re deathly afraid of needles or aren’t healthy enough to give blood. Even though each donor is already screened for HIV before he or she donates, we won’t be allowed to donate simply because we’re gay men. Since 1983, the U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned sexually active gay men, or any men who have had sex with other men since 1977 (termed MSM), from donating blood. Back in the early ’80s, AIDS was a new disease thought to be limited to homosexual men. In fact, the term AIDS was often used interchangeably with the term GRID, or gay-related immune deficiency.
Gay men were essentially used as scapegoats, and amid homophobia and shaky genetic evidence, were unilaterally barred from donating blood in order to protect America’s blood supply.
There are several reasons why the FDA bars MSM from donating blood. Unfortunately, MSM have an HIV prevalence 60 times higher than the general population. They also make up the largest single group of blood donors found to be HIV-positive by blood donor testing. At first glance, it makes sense why MSM are banned from blood donations; it’s important to insure the safety of our national blood supply. But did you know that HIV prevalence is currently between eight to nine times higher among blacks than among whites? Or that the FDA currently prohibits people who were born or lived in several African countries from donating blood? Why don’t we just ban anyone who’s ever thought about Africa to make sure our blood supply remains safe too?
The answer is simple: The FDA is not only lazy but discriminatory as well. Instead of banning individuals for blood donation based upon on their own behaviors, they instead ban individuals based upon what group they’re born into, and that’s just not right. HIV tests are getting better by the day, and our government has nothing to lose but everything to gain by ending this discriminatory ban. Not only will this help to increase our national blood supply, but it will help showcase the United States as a nation that follows its basic principles.