On the radio this morning a lovely local young man came on air. He was polite but annoyed, and now so am I.
Luke is a blogger, he’s on a sort of random kindness mission to do one random kind thing a day, everyday.
Recently discrimination prevented him, you see Luke is gay and what he tried to do was give blood. Apparently a gay man can’t give blood unless they’ve been sexually inactive for over 12 months. (Even if that man only gets close whilst using condoms!)
Yet a promiscuous straight guy can? I understand the point, AIDS used to be a bigger problem than it is now, and sadly it was more common in gay men. Also all donated blood is tested and screened. So all I am hearing is old fashioned, gays not welcome, discrimination.
Lets change this antiquitated rule shall we? The petition is here.
Luke writes The Good Deed Diary blog. Basically he’s got a deck of cards with random acts of kindness on – tell Mum you love her, help an elderly person, pick up litter, hold the door for a stranger.
Then he got a card that said donate blood, as a healthy man with a rare blood type you’d think he’d be welcome, but nope!
I realise this isn’t Gaza or Ebola here, it’s not sensational enough for the media to run with this, but it does need changing. Let’s think about this – you’ve been in a car crash and the person next to you is bleeding badly. In hospital they get donated blood and surgery to stop blood loss. I would not care if that blood was gay, straight, white or black. I wouldn’t ask nor care who it’s from, I would be too grateful to care about that, oh and I am not prejudiced about such things.
Giving blood can save lives so why the heck is this rule still there? It’s not 1950 anymore, homosexuality is not illegal, we don’t hide sexuality anymore.
So let’s try to fix this? Do you think it is right a gay man cannot save lives?
That is quite shocking isn’t it.
Mind I couldn’t donate breastmilk because I was already feeding another child.
That is also a bit daft, any breastfeeding Mum knows if babe drinks more your body increases milk production. So a regular donation wouldn’t affect your babes. *rolls eyes*
That is shocking….I didn’t even know that!
There are so many inequalities still. Even I didn’t know this one.
I find the rule a little strange too. All blood is tested for HIV, hepatitis, etc. None of these illnesses are sexuality-related.
That is absolutely crazy
i think it’s crazy. Thanks for sharing this!