By Josh Weaver
Policies set in place by the Food and Drug Administration barring certain individuals from donating blood date back to 1983, coinciding with the increased concern of spreading the then newly discovered AIDS virus.
Since that time, the FDA has maintained the restrictions on people who’ve, since 1977, engaged in male-to-male sexual relations, and females who have been intimate with a man who has been with a man.
Jayson Gawthorpe, an openly gay student at San Jose State University, said he gave blood when he was in high school, but was no longer allowed to give blood after he came out of the closest.
“This law, the policy … is old, it’s no longer necessary,” Gawthrope said. “In the interest of protecting people, they are overlooking a huge population that doesn’t need to overlooked anymore.”
As recently as March of this year, the FDA upheld its long-standing policy that bans gays from donating blood amongst challenges from the Red Cross and two other blood groups, the AABB and America’s Blood Centers, according to an Associated Press article.
Some college students were inclined to agree with the organizations, saying sexual orientation should not be the question and that they felt the rules in place were more discriminatory than merely precautionary.
“I don’t think it should matter at all,” said Saul Villalta, a student at SJSU. “I mean, it doesn’t matter if you’re gay or not. The blood’s all the same, right? It’s just different types.”
The three groups that oppose the current ban argued that because significant improvements have been made in detecting HIV-positive blood, the ban should be lifted and instead a one-year deferral should be utilized — meaning people would have to wait one year after male-to-male relations to give blood — according to the AP.
“It has nothing to do with their lifestyle, it has to do with the virus,” said Susan Belanger, a nurse with one of Stanford’s moving donation stations.
The ban is not just centered in the United States. Other countries have also instituted restrictions on blood donations.
A protest held earlier this year in Dublin was aimed at the Department of Health in Ireland and its ban on gay people giving blood. The Irish Blood Transfusion Service has enforced the prohibition since the mid 80s, according to an article published on irishhealth.com.
“The IBTS is turning away willing donors for no other reason than the fact that they have had sex with another man,” said spokesman Steve Conlon in the article.
Back in the U.S. the FDA remains steadfast in its ways, saying on its Web site there is still too great a risk for transmitting AIDS through transfusions, which is the major concern.
The FDA also states that although the current technologies have reduced the risk of HIV transmission, it is still difficult to detect all infected donors.
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