Montclair University Student Protests Ban on Donating Blood

[The Straight Story]

Montclair University Student Protests Ban on Donating Blood

SARAH SCHILLACI Reporting

NEW JERSEY (NorthJersey.com) -- With New Jersey blood supplies bottoming out, blood banks around the state have been crying out for donors.

Just not donors like Dustin Weinstein.

A 20-year-old sophomore at Montclair State University, Weinstein signed up to donate blood last November at a Red Cross blood drive on campus because, he said, "I thought it would be a nice thing to do."

But when Weinstein, who is gay, answered "yes" on a questionnaire asking whether or not he had had sexual relations with another man since 1977, American Red Cross volunteers running the drive told him that he was ineligible to be a donor.

"My initial reaction was absolute shock. I thought, there's no way," Weinstein, a Randolph native, said last week.

For the past several months, blood supplies around New Jersey have hit critically low levels. Karen Ferriday, a spokeswoman for Community Blood Services in Oradell, said blood stores, which optimally provide three to five days worth of blood, have fallen to half-day supplies for the past several months.

http://www.1010wins.com/Gay-NJ-Student-Protests-Ban-on-Donating-Blood/3953006

[ReliantJ]

1. No fucking way

I wonder how a person that needs it feels

[Deja Q]

4. Or if the situations were reversed.

[whistler162]

11. A lot better than Elizabeth Glaser and numerous others

this rule came after too many hard lessons of infected blood being used to replace blood lose in uninfected people.

[ReliantJ]

12. But in 28 years

I'd hope the detection is better. I see your point tho

[whistler162]

14. Hopefully, below is from the Red Cross....

http://www.redcross.org/en/eligibility

"In-Depth Discussion of HIV Group O and Blood Donation
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the virus that causes AIDS. The virus can be transmitted through blood transfusion, so all donor programs are required to question donors about possible HIV exposure, and to test donated blood for this virus.

There is a rare form of HIV called Type O that is found in western Africa. The available tests for HIV do not always detect the Type O strain. This means that blood programs must take special precautions to keep this virus out of the blood supply by not taking blood donations from those who have been where the virus is found.

Persons who were born in or lived in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Niger and Nigeria since 1977 cannot be blood donors. The Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for supervising the safety of the American blood supply, put this requirement in place in 1996. The requirement applies to all blood donation programs, including that of the American Red Cross. The list of countries with HIV Type O risk is based on information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) where experts monitor infections worldwide.

It is possible that the tests used to screen donated blood may someday be improved so that they detect Type O HIV. If so, these donation restrictions may be removed."

Even though it says been there it seems logical to include anyone who might have had sexual partners from or visited that region.

highlighting is mine.

[ReliantJ]

15. Thanks for the info

[depakid]

2. It's a risk factor.

I can't donate blood becuase I spent too much time in Britain in the late 80's and early 90's.

Never touched beef or a meaty pie- but there's still a risk.

[sdfernando]

5. I have to disagree

There are multitudes of test that are done a donated blood before it hits the supply chain. There is no sensible reason to refuse a donation from a gay man provided you screen the blood and ask the proper, pertinent questions.

[Deja Q]

7. As if they are celibate?

Never mind human nature; some people will cheat on their lovers. Others will lie anyway. Sometimes what they're looking for may not be detected. There may be other conditions that might not show up in a scan.

There are too many legitimate reasons.

One thing I have always been consistent on, even though I don't qualify to donate blood, is agreeing with the Red Cross on their list of disqualifiers.

So shoot me.

[sdfernando]

8. so you disqualify a whole class of people?

Sorry that don't cut it. This is just taking the "easy way out". As a result they are losing out on a lot of supply. How many will die because of that?

[originalpckelly]

19. It's necessary and not the result of blind anti-homosexual hatred.

If it were all homosexuals, men and women, then you could attribute it to that. On the other hand, it isn't, and it is true that gay men engage in high risk sexual behaviors, so much so that it should be an outright ban.

[sdfernando]

22. and straight men don't???

HIV rates among younger "STRAIGHT" people are skyrocketing. In 2006 less than 1/2 of all new AIDS diagnoses were among homosexuals.

"Around 48% of all people diagnosed with AIDS were probably infected with HIV through male-to-male sexual contact, while people exposed through heterosexual contact comprise around 18% of the total. Since the beginning of the epidemic, the number of heterosexual infections has increased dramatically. According to CDC estimates, heterosexual contact led to about one third of new AIDS diagnoses and one third of new HIV diagnoses in 2006."

http://www.avert.org/usa-transmission-gender.htm

In many countries heterosexuals have the largest rates of infection.

Another article from 2008 states that the rates of heterosexual infection may be underestimated too.

http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/227696.htm

Not all gay men engage in high risk behaviors. Not all straight people DO NOT engage in high risk behaviors. The obvious answer is that because some in each group engage in high risk behaviors, then all should be excluded from donating blood. Where will that get us???

[moriah]

24. Unfortunately statistics are easy to manipulate....

Kind of like the statistics regarding Down Syndrome -- those were discussed on here so I know that most people on DU are familiar with the similarity. 80% of children with Down Syndrome are born to women under 35. That can be used to say that advanced maternal age shouldn't be correlated with Down Syndrome.

But when you consider how few women are having babies after age 35 compared to before age 35, you see why they recommend genetic testing for moms-to-be over 35.

There isn't a firm statistic for how many people in this country are homosexual or bisexual, I think the common idiom is 10% -- you could half that to account for the 48% number being male-to-male contact, but the comparison stands without that. There are still a disproportionate amount of new HIV infections that can be attributed to unprotected male-to-male sexual contact.

That being said....

I think the key word should be "unprotected" -- and should be applied to both males and females, straight and gay. And I wish, being a straight monogamous female currently using barrier contraception (condoms and cervical cap), that the vampires could get a full pint out of me without my veins collapsing. I try every time there is a blood drive, and when I lived in NYC I went to the blood bank every time I was eligible, but they've only been able to get a full pint from me once. The bruised arms I end up getting from a failed attempt are worth the chance that I might have been able to save a life.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

13. And yet their are still people infected with diseases from transfusions.

[originalpckelly]

20. You assume tests are 100% accurate, but for HIV it takes a while to show up...

Obviously that's the concern here, because of that, I agree with this policy. Gay men still to this day are more likely to become HIV+ than straight people, due to the activities that many of us engage in. Receptive anal intercourse is dramatically more risky than vaginal, as it concerns HIV transmission. That, and the fact that there is quite a large percentage of the gay male community engaging in anonymous sexual activity, the risk almost certainly higher. And the statistics show that.

[Deja Q]

6. Or recently recovering from flu, taking certain medications... plenty of reasons to be disqualified.

Anyone who takes it personally is just being a narcissist.

:shrug:

[Skittles]

18. I donate platelets (blood product) every 2 or 3 weeks

I defer myself if I feel "off" in any way - no need to take chances

[Skittles]

17. does that mean no one in England can donate blood?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. This is a national health policy issue, local blood banks have no discrestion on it

there are also lots of other ways to get DQ from donating.

[Ohio Joe]

9. I can't give blood anymore

I used to give blood all the time but back in the early 90's sometime they introduced a new question. Have you ever had human growth hormones? I have. I forget now why it disqualifies me but it does. meh, not much I can do about it.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. There's a word missing in that question: "unprotected."

Also, they misspelled "person."

[originalpckelly]

16. I think it's an unfortunately necessary policy. Why not lesbians?

There is a reason they ban gay MEN from donating and not women, as I understand the policy. It's the fact that gay men are more likely to engage in unsafe sexual contact/activities, ones which increase the prevalence of STIs in our community. I hate to say it, but it's really just a side effect of testosterone. It's the sex hormone in both sexes, but it's obviously men have a lot more of it. Two men is like a nuclear reactor without control rods, there is no one there to resist the urges.

On the other hand, other than trich, lesbians would seem to be even safer than allowing straight men or women to donate, based upon the lower testosterone levels in either party.

[eyesroll]

21. It's sad--I can give blood if I have unprotected sex with a different man every night for a year...

...so long as I don't ask questions about where he lived, his IV drug use, or his sexual past.

But members of a couple who's been monogamous since 1972 cannot give blood, if both of them are male.

[sdfernando]

23. Thank you! Exactly my point! /nt