Britain will allow sexually inactive gay men to donate blood
By Jessica GentileApril 11th, 2011, 8:30 amComments (7)
Here's some good news for sexually frustrated British guys. If you haven't gotten laid in over ten years, you can now give blood. Think of the free cookies and warm, fuzzy feeling you get from helping out your fellow citizens (no, it's not dizziness) as a consolation prize for your dry spell. The new policy reverses a decades-long protocol that banned all gay men from ever donating blood — a policy that still exists in the United States and Canada.
According to England's Health Minister, Anne Milton, the old policy was overturned as a result of concerns that it breached discrimination and equality laws. The ban had been in effect because of fears regarding the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. While all blood is screened, some infections remain undetected because there is a lag in time before they show up in tests.
Some still worry about the impact the new ten-year policy will have on public health. It supposedly will increase the risk for HIV in the blood supply by two percent. Others claim this is no cause for concern and that this fear simply proves that years after the height of the AIDS epidemic, there's still much stigma present within the gay community.
Regardless, the desire for greater equality and inclusion sounds great on paper until you realize the percentage of gay men (or really any men) who've been sexually inactive for over ten years has got to be pretty slim, so it's doubtful they'll be an increase in blood donors. Though perhaps the new rule gives the notoriously celibate and sexually ambiguous Morrissey a chance to pass along his plasma?
Commentarium (7 Comments)
Black people have a higher incidence of HIV than White people. Is it ok to prevent Black people from donating blood?
Proportionately, gay men, IV drug users, etc... have higher rate of HIV than any other risk group. The policy is discriminatory, but this was something HIV activists fought very hard for in the early years of the epidemic. In recent years, with infection prevalence spiraling to levels not seen since the late '80s, I do not believe this is policy has somehow become unnecessary.
If you were hemophiliac, perhaps you would feel differently.
In my area, it's actually lower class, straight, white women who have higher infection rates.
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