Gay Blood

The article that inspires this blog post a bit outdated, but the content within is still very relevant today. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), homosexual men are not allowed to donate blood in the United States, for fear of spreading HIV/AIDS. The belief is that since homosexuals have higher rates of HIV, they are more likely to spread the disease. If you ever donate blood, you'll notice one of the boxes to check off with a "yes" or "no" states something along the lines of, "I have had sexual intercourse with a man who has had sexual intercourse with another man", your blood will not be used.

I have many problems with this law. First off, their reasoning is completely false. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), rates for homosexual couples with AIDS is actually lower than that of heterosexual couples. Yet they seem to have no trouble denying heterosexuals access to donation.

This is beyond simple safety, this is ideology. This law is based off assumptions made back when AIDS was still GRID, or "Gay Related Immune Deficiency". Even if homosexuals did have higher rates of AIDS, the FDA also states that men who have slept with prostitutes, whom also have higher rates of HIV/AIDS, are allowed to donate blood after a year of the encounter.

This is an unnecessary law. If someone wishes to give their blood to save another, this decision shouldn't be based on whom they love. The United State's hospitals already has less blood than they need, and we deny an entire group of people the ability to help this problem? Yes, people can choose to lie when checking off the box asking about their sex-life, but just the fact this rule is in place shows a lack of progress for equality towards all. I firmly believe this law should not be in place: if our country wants to see progress, we have to show it.

But as always, I open up the question to you. Do you feel this law should be in place? Why or why not? How do you think the idea of homosexuality stands in America today? Feel free to give me your opinions below.

For more information, feel free to check out the links above.