The Food and Drug Administration is currently looking into revising its policy on the blood donation of gay men in America. The original policy defers male donors who have ever had sexual contact with another man since 1977. As the date indicates, this code was made during the AIDS epidemic, a time of reactionary homophobic panic.
The FDA’s recent initiative to modify its ban on blood donations from queer men does not truly reflect a move toward acceptance of queerness, but rather the continued failure of a government institution that uses medical science puppetry to enforce discrimination. It might seem like a good start, but it is not enough.
The policy is being revised, not ?abolished.
The FDA is modifying the ban so that only men who have had sex with other men in the 12 months prior to donation are turned away, i.e. practicing queer men. Some consider this progress, but it is a far cry from being progressive.
One confounding aspect is that practically all of the criticisms against the original ban are equally relevant with homophobia today. To start, donated blood is always screened for contaminants like hepatitis and HIV. Also, the numbers simply do not justify this policy. There is not enough statistical significance to back this up, especially now that people are much more informed.
This ban is a clear indication that even science can be biased.
Saying that queer blood is intrinsically equated to HIV-positive blood is an ugly and — especially today — unfounded stereotype. And it is really enforceable in only two ways: being honest on the form and getting turned away before donating or being profiled as gay.
Besides, many donation organizations disdain this ban for all the informed reasons above. They are the ones actually interacting with potential donors, they are the ones hurting for donors. They are the ones who would have the most at stake in such a decision.
The Editorial Board will concede that this policy revision is positive for the men who had sex with men at least a year in the past. However, it’s still problematic. It positions these newly-liberated men as victims who were either once confused and are back on the straight and narrow or were taken advantage of by a villainous homosexual.
The FDA is still suggesting that homosexual behavior is inherently dangerous, thereby denying them a means to be integrated into a popular philanthropic ritual in our country.
This modification appears to be heading in the right direction. However, we are not quite at the finish line yet.
We say this is a good start. However, it looks like we have a long way to go.
