| By Tanya Paperny - Feb 1st, 2008 at 5:52 pm EST |
| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
San Jose State University's President put all campus blood drives on hold because of the policy that gay men can't donate blood. He says this violates the school's nondiscrimination policy.
I'm torn - the Queer Student Union at my alma mater organized around this issue, wearing t-shirts that read "Will you donate blood for me?" Gay-identified males would wear it, asking people at the blood drive to donate on their behalf. It served as a great education tool - people would then ask, "why can't you donate blood?"
But halting the drives altogether? It seems to make more sense to attempt to address the policy than create a blood shortage. However, little has been done to address this glaring inequality. Why can't men who've ever had sex with men donate blood?
What do you all think?
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I wouldn't want that blood in me if I were lying there dying.
(Now all the fags will come back with, "We all wish you WERE lying there dying" or some such clever witticism).
Pathetic. California liberal lunacy.
I feel sorry for you and the hate that you carry with you. It must be difficult to bear the weight of hate. Try love. It is so much lighter.
Just witness the fact that the ONLY place i've seen adverts for HIV medication is in gay neighborhoods and magazines.
What group is this you ask? Why it's none other than San Jose State University Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (M. E.Ch.A.). Link
They have an official "raza day" (race day), they use derogatory terms like "gringo" and "gabacho", to describe those not "la raza de dronze" (the bronze race) and openly state "For la raza todo. Fuera de la raza nada." (For the race everything. Outside the race nothing.)
Where is the outcry over this genuine racism and discrimination? Does SJU condone racism as long as it practiced by a minority?
The ban on gay men donating blood at least has some basis in historical fact (Ryan White Link and Elizabeth Glaser Link come to mind), can the same be said of the open racism of Mecha?
This is just another PC stunt designed to "shame" anyone who does not tow the PC line.
See Link
The policy that any man who's had sex with another man since 1977 can't donate was instated in the 80s, when the AIDS panic was at its highest. More is known now about the virus.
Furthermore, donated blood is always tested for HIV, among other things.
While the cases of White and Glaser are tragic, there remains no reason to continue preventing gay men from donating. This would be especially inconsistent since "heterosexual men and women who have unprotected oral, anal and vaginal sex and multiple sex partners, and who have unknown HIV status" can donate without restriction.