Take the donation, keep the discrimination

Recently, while browsing in the La Palmera Mall, I walked past a semi-empty room where there were many chairs set up and medical personnel drawing blood from the willing.

After eating a hearty lunch, I decided to step up to the plate and donate blood for the first time in my life.

After getting my iron levels checked and blood pressure taken, I picked out a chair and waited for my blood to be drawn.

The nurse who came to take my blood was very nice and she quickly began a conversation to "ease my nerves" that led to my learning that homosexual males are not allowed to donate blood.

Although this is common information to some, there are many other people in the community who are not aware of the policy.

Now, I do understand both sides of the story: the FDA ran numerous tests and samples of blood taken from gay males over the past years and it has been proven that they are at a higher risk for contracting sexually-transmitted diseases such as HIV.

On the other hand, research indicates that all of the blood samples drawn are screened at least two more times after being processed at the blood bank, at no additional cost to the original screening fees.

So why not let homosexual males donate their blood? It's going to be double-checked anyway once it arrives at the blood bank.

When it comes to homosexual females, there are no rules against them donating blood.

This was the main purpose of the conversation I was having with the staff member drawing my blood. She said that blood banks must recheck the blood donated until it passes certain checkpoints.

So, whether or not the FDA and the blood banks ever modify the regulations on homosexual males donating blood, everyone should be aware of this restriction.

Besides, I've since heard that a lot of gay males just check "No" on the "Are you homosexual?" question, which means their blood was disease-free and they successfully gave blood.