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(01/23/13 5:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sam Laubach tried to donate blood once.When the nurse asked him if he had ever had sex with another man any time after 1977, Laubach, president of Sigma Phi Beta, lied and said no.He knew if he told the truth, he’d be deferred as a blood donor when he had perfectly clean blood to donate. However, a nurse who knew him prior had noticed him and called him out on his lie.Laubach eventually told the truth and was then told he was ineligible to donate blood.“I could tell it just really hurt him to tell me I couldn’t donate any blood. I could see it in his eyes,” Laubach said.For the past 30 years, homosexual men have been banned from donating blood.In 1983, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration implemented the MSM blood ban, which states that men who have had sex with other men any time since 1977 are ineligible to donate blood.The ban also deems women who have had sex in the past 12 months with a man who has had sex with another man, even if only once, ineligible to donate blood.The Secular Alliance at IU and Sigma Phi Beta fraternity are partnering with the Red Cross to sponsor their second Blood Drive for Equality to raise awareness about the MSM blood ban in the U.S. There will also be a petition to repeal the FDA’s policy on the MSM blood ban. The blood drive is taking place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Georgian Room of the Indiana Memorial Union.The blood drive comes just in time for the end of National Blood Donor Month.During last year’s blood drive, the Secular Alliance and Sigma Phi Beta took a tally on a poster board as a visual representation of those who were ineligible because of this lifetime ban. About 15 people were unable to give blood due to the MSM blood ban. Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs a blood transfusion, said Katy Maloy, program manager of communications at the American Red Cross, via email. The average amount of blood taken when donating is one pint. The average amount of blood someone needs in a transfusion is three pints. Without the blood ban, ineligible donors would have been able to provide enough blood for five blood transfusions.“This is a law based on scientific fear. We need more blood, and this is a ridiculous policy we don’t need,” said Jessika Griffin, Secular Alliance president. “It’s scientifically and medically unwarranted.”According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration site, “a history of male-to-male sex is associated with an increased risk for the presence of and transmission of certain infectious diseases, including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.”They also state that men who have sex with other men are 60 times more likely to have HIV than the general population. According to the Indiana State Department of Health site, by the end of December 2010, there was a total of 9,893 people living with HIV/AIDS in Indiana. The majority infected were men who had sex with men.Despite these statistics, there is still an urgency to change the policy. In 2010, Senate Democrats called on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a new study in order for the ban to be lifted.“‘Healthy gay and bisexual men continue to be banned for life’ while ‘a man who has had sex with an HIV-positive woman’ can give blood after waiting only one year,” the Democrats said in a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. There’s also been action to help those afflicted by HIV/AIDS. The Obama administration released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) in July of 2010, which aimed to lower HIV infection by 25 percent. This past summer, the FDA approved of Truvada, the first drug to prevent HIV.Although they are required by law to follow FDA guidelines in regards to the MSM blood ban, the Red Cross site says the group supports “rational, scientifically-based deferral periods that are applied fairly and consistently among donors who engage in similar risk activities.”“The American Red Cross is disappointed that the FDA has chosen not to make changes ... to press for donor deferral policies that are fair, consistent and based on scientific evidence, while protecting patients from potential harm,” Maloy said.This controversy can be dated back to 1984 when Ryan White, an Indiana teenager, contracted AIDS through a tainted hemophilia treatment. He was expelled from his middle school due to his condition, which turned him into the poster child for fighting AIDS-related discrimination.During the years, AIDS-related discrimination has reoccurred sporadically. Before White, a major misconception in the U.S. was that only gay men contracted AIDS.Most recent and relevant example of this discrimination occurred last July when IU professor Uri Horesh was arrested for protesting the MSM blood ban policy after being told he was ineligible to donate blood.“It’s just nice people who want the opportunity to help ... It’s a heterosexist practice and it’s based more on stereotypes than actual fact,” Laubach said.According to CNN, there was a nationwide shortage of blood donations last June.“It’s important, we need more blood and we have an untapped resource. It just makes sense to repeal the blood ban,” Laubach said.
(01/17/13 2:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In honor of Martin Luther King Jr., IU Cinema will present its first MLK Day Film Festival from Friday to Saturday at the IU Cinema. The event marks the first collaboration between the IU Cinema and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs, Black Film Center/Archive, Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center and the MLK Campus Committee. In the past, they have worked with Residential Programs and Services to show movies in the dorm halls during the week of MLK Day.To begin the MLK Day Film Festival, Madeline Anderson’s documentary film “I Am Somebody” will be shown at 4 p.m. Friday followed by a lecture by the civil rights filmmaker in the Grand Hall in Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.Anderson became the first African-American female in the United States to direct a film in a film industry union. She was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1992. “I Am Somebody” is a documented story of 400 poorly paid black American hospital workers in South Carolina who went on strike in demand of a fair wage increase. “With the making of her film, Anderson helped pave the way for women of color and women in filmmaking,” said Roberta Radovich, program coordinator of Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs. “We just want to honor her legacy.”Tim Reid’s 1955 film “Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored” will be shown at 3 p.m. Saturday. His film tells the story of an American family who takes the risks to fight racism and achieve political rights in the segregated South during the 1940s. “Boycott,” a film by Clark Johnson in 2001, will begin after “Once Upon a Time” at 9:30 p.m. Johnson’s film reenacts the events of the bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., during the Civil Rights Movement.The MLK Film Day Festival is free and open to the public, and the free tickets are available at the IU Auditorium Box Office. For more information about tickets, call 812-856-5700.
(11/09/12 2:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU’s African American Arts Institute will present its annual A Potpourri of Arts in the African American Tradition concert 8 p.m. Saturday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.Created in 1993, the Potpourri of Arts concert was created to give the African American Choral Ensemble, African American Dance Company and IU Soul Revue a chance to perform together. All three ensembles consist of IU students.“Potpourri, the word itself, is a mixture of things,” said Charles Sykes, executive director of the institute. “That’s exactly what the concert is, a chance for the three ensembles to perform all in one night, incorporating popular music and dance. It’s a program of its own kind.”The African American Dance Company plans to express a story that explores the subconscious mind of a dreamer who experiences discontent and oppression after peaceful sleep. IU Soul Revue has had a reputation as one of the finest collegiate music ensembles in America since 1971, according to the African American Arts Institute website. They will perform numerous Motown classics by the Temptations, the Supremes, Stevie Wonder and The Jackson 5. The African American Choral Ensemble will perform a broad repertoire, which will include spirituals and gospel hymns. They will perform works by Jester Hairston, Moses Hogan, Rosephanye Powell, John Lakin and the new African American Choral Ensemble director Raymond Wise.All three ensembles will combine their talents of music and dance for the final number. This year’s finale theme is “New Season, New Day,” which includes works by Israel Houghton and Alicia Keys. Wise composed the arrangement with choreography by Iris Rosa.“We’re dedicating the final piece to Dr. Raymond Wise,” Sykes said. “He originated the theme, and he brings such a new and incredible energy to our program.”The three ensembles have prepared for this event since the beginning of the semester. Each ensemble has rehearsed at least three hours twice per week to prepare.“The hard work is worth it,” performer Lauren Blackwell said. “This event is rare and unlike any other. Although we have African war pieces and gospel music, it’s way more beyond that.” Blackwell, a freshman member of the African American Dance Company, said the concert will include many styles of music.“It’s not evolved around one genre of anything,” Blackwell said. “We have so much variation of everything, and what we put into our performance displays so much rich African culture.”
(11/02/12 3:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last May, IU became the first college campus to create a Stop the Silence chapter, a nonprofit organization that serves to raise awareness of sexual assault against children. The organization’s IU chapter has a simple mission: to educate the entire Bloomington campus about child abuse, help those who have been affected by it and promote resources.“I wanted to start the organization because I was abused as a child,” said sophomore Jaclyn Lahr, president of IU’s chapter. “I wanted to find a way to help people like myself.”Stop the Silence began in 2002 with Pamela Pine, an international health and development specialist. Lahr asked to start a Bloomington chapter and, after drafting a constitution, it was approved as a student chapter.“I felt that all the organizations that I found focused on date rape and abuse, and I wanted to find an organization that was specifically focused on helping those who were sexually assaulted at a young age,” Lahr said.IU chapter’s secretary Kelsie Stanhope said this is a global issue. “Not a lot of people would necessarily think of this social issue on a daily basis,” Stanhope said. “But it is an incredibly important one, not only in our society but throughout the world.” Although it’s a new organization on campus, Stop the Silence already has various events planned. It will organize many fundraising and awareness events throughout the year and spread awareness through the arts.A movie inspired by the organization, “To Kill a Kelpie,” was shown in Woodburn Hall 120 and was followed by a panel discussion. With 10 board members and 40 members on the mailing list already, Stop the Silence members are anticipating more people will join the Bloomington chapter. “The best way to get involved with Stop the Silence would be to join the Facebook group, ‘Stop the Silence at Indiana University,’” Stanhope said.For more information on Stop the Silence at IU, search “Stop the Silence at Indiana University” at myinvolvement.indiana.edu or contact jmlahr@indiana.edu.