Calling all donors

Are you a male who has had sexual contact with another male, even once, since 1977?

If so, you will either not be allowed to donate blood or your blood donation will be “deferred.”

It’s important to note that there are no policies banning “gay blood.”

Gay men who have not had sexual contact with other men are generally welcome to donate blood. Likewise, otherwise-identified men who have sex with men cannot give blood under the current policies.

Confusing the MSM (Men who have Sex with Men) and gay male population assumes blood bank policy is prejudiced about sexual preference, when the rules govern only sexual history.

It also ignores the population (significant especially outside the U.S.) that engages in these sexual acts without considering themselves gay.

Blood banks are not seeking to discriminate against gay men, per say, but they are misguided in their perceptions of risk.

According to a 2007 study conducted by the Center for Disease Control, male-to-male sexual contact accounted for 53 percent of cases of transmission of HIV/AIDS. The same study found that 51 percent of people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2007 were African-American. 

If the first statistic is proof enough of high-risk, then the second statistic is not so different.

In fact, these are disturbing statistics, but they are the wrong ones to use to determine guidelines for blood donation.

To say that more than 50 percent of transmissions can be traced to unsafe male-to-male sexual conduct is not the same as saying that more than 50 percent of the MSM community is HIV positive.

To say that the amount of cases in these populations makes allowing donations inefficient (so many donations would be unusable that the cost of testing would not be outweighed by the benefits of increased donations) does not seem fair then, as the percentage of people within these populations with HIV/AIDS is much, much lower than the percentage of total cases each population accounts for in the CDC Study.

Moreover, since all samples are tested for HIV/AIDS, it would seem that the same measure currently in place to screen blood donations would sufficiently detect any blood sample positive for HIV/AIDS – whether the donation came from the MSM community or not.

While blood banks have the best interests in mind, we believe that their attempts to eliminate risk are misguided and exclude viable blood donors from the donation pool.