Several months ago, we asked if you've ever lied to donate blood, by saying that you've never had gay sex. Most of your answers fell into two distinct categories. Some folks said things along the lines of, "I don't want anything that doesn't want me." Others argued that a little fib doesn't hurt anyone, particularly in a case where it could save a life.
Well, a Canadian man named Kyle Freeman fell into the latter group of logic, and now Canadian Blood Services is suing him for not telling the truth. Freeman is healthy, HIV-negative and wholly admits to his lie. He's also suing them back for discrimination. Well, this could get interesting!
– Dewitt
Well, in this case, i do believe is valuable the sue from the Canadian Blood Services.. When it come to medical services, things are very delicated, specially when it comes to organ and blood donation. When it comes to health, gay men are considerated “high risk patients” because many gay men are xtremely poligamious and goes for bareback sex. Is something that in my personal experience can say is true.
Maybe the man was healthy at the time, but if he had sometime an STD and used peniciline or another med to be cured, those things are not searched until the factors comes by. What happens if someone is allergic to some components of some med residues or something? He was irresponsible.
For what matters, not only his blood, but all the blood it was mixed in, could be considerated as contaminated, and is a waste of blood.
Is not discrimination, the man lied ina med apply. He can and should be processed.
What you say is true, Carlos. But I do feel gay men are discriminated against, as any number of promiscuous straight people who are having unprotected sex can honestly answer the question “Yes”, and still possibly have an STD, and pass that along while donating blood.
I personally feel that the ban on gay men giving blood stems from the stigma that has always been associated with HIV; of course, I may be biased.
What if a deadly blood-borne disease had hit the black community? Would it be right to ban ALL blacks from giving blood? What if a small population of women had a blood antigen that was potentially dangerous? Would we stop all women from donating?
There are number of straight people who engage in unsafe sexual practices. Is the percentage as high as in the gay community? Probably not. But there is still a risk of a contaminated donation.
I feel the question should be changed; perhaps “Have you had any unprotected sex in the last 10 years?” Or would straight people then complain that they were being discriminated against?
I’m double barred from giving blood, both because of my HIV status and the fact that I had hepatitus many years ago.
It’s a moot issue for me, sadly, because I think giving blood is a great thing to do.
That being said, however, it is discriminatory of Canadian Blood Services (and the Red Cross, for that matter) to ban gay men who are negative.
As someone with the absolute rarest bloodtype available, negative for HIV, sexually responsible, and possessin’ the CCR5 delta 32 gene… I should be able to give blood, regardless of what I’ve had in my ass or put in anothers’ butt lately… Docs want the bone marrow for cultures but I can’t answer honestly and drop a pint or two for the Red Cross?
All donations should go through the same rigorous testing; risk groups should be ignored. Every drop should be treated as suspect, regardless of a qualitative questionnaire. It’s the only way to be sure.
excuse me, but the one thing no one here is mentioning is the reason WHY there is so much concern regarding blood donation by gay men- and that is the potential of passing HIV on to the recipient. Since HIV has the capacity to hide from tests for a very long period, and since there is still no cure, only treatments that alleviate the symptoms, there is a VERY legitimate reason for screening out gay men that have had unprotected male-male sex. that is NOT saying that the virus couldn’t be gotten from heterosexual men who have had male-female sex with a hooker who might have picked up HIV from a bisexual man, of course. I really wish that gay men would stop plying the “poor me” card when it comes to their sexual prefs- not ALL gay men are horribly promiscuous, but speaking as a man who came out in the mid 70’s, and was indeed one of those who was, and who ended up with HIV because we didn’t know any better at the time, I think that not being able to donate blood is a rather small thing to be pissed off about. There are certain types that are rare and it would be good if the restriction could be lifted in those cases, but we DON’T have to be able to do EVERYTHING just because straight men (and women)can… heck, next thing you know we will be clamoring to have sex with women well, not THIS gay man, who has NEVER had sex with a woman, has never wanted to, nor will he ever. I know I am going to get shouted at about this one, but I don’t care. I, as a gay HIV poz guy, feel an obligation NOT to give blood, and there are plenty of HIV poz guys out there that don’t know they are yet, and how would they feel if they donated blood which later turned out to have infected someone because their status hadn’t become clear yet?
and yes, before anyone says it, I know it was about being sued for lying about the sex…
Leaving the politics aside, we homesexuals need to come in terms with this. Our lifestyle make us high risk, so it is not rational for any gay man to donate blood. It is just simple. There is higher probability or having STI and someone out there his/her health may get complicated just because one of us donates blood. It is not discrimination it is scientific, there are alot of battle there for us to fight like marriage equality but this issue may make us look like we are mentaliy challenged.
randy u bitter old queen there is a church somewhere waiting for u at the next gay gattering.. grow up and shut up and stick a dick in both ends
No it is not scientific. Maybe for you tresqboy. It is discrimination. I am a perfectly healthy young man who practices safe sex and have not had more partners than many of my heterosexual friends my in my age range. Fighting to the right to do something as noble as blood donation would not make us look mentally challenged. It’s a good thing to do, and I would I love to, but I don’t want to lie on a form. At my job they actually give overtime for people who donate, and guess who can’t. Me. How is that not discrimination? And I am sorry to all those that were infected and have lost loved ones because AIDS and HIV was new and people were not educated about safe sex, but in this day and age heterosexuals and homosexuals have the opportunity to be educated about safe sex. And still many, straight and gay, ignore it but my hetero counterparts still get to donate. This may not be up there with marriage, but we’re still fighting for EQUALITY in all it’s forms. I wouldn’t want anyone getting sick off infected blood, but mine is still as good as everyone else’s.
firstly not only gay men are “banned” from giving blood, it is also people who have used drugs in the past or present, and also some nations from Africa who have a high percentage of HIV are also “banned”, I would love to give blood; however, I am aware of my sexual orientation as being high risk, even though I practice safe sex. I would be deeply hurt if my blood was HIV and they administered my blood to a new born.
Gay men should not be banned for giving blood, nor should they be sewed because they said they never had gay sex. Just because gay men have a higher risk or STD’s does not make them any less valuable when it comes to giving blood. There are plenty of heterosexual people who have just as much partners as a gay man might have had. But since you are straight it is assumed that you are less likely to carry an STD and so you can proceed to give blood. I mean there is a reason why there is blood screening in the first place. Also the straight people who have had unprotected sex and got tested and came back with a negative test result; this does not mean that they are clean, there is a 6 month window in which the disease might take long to multiply into a number recognized through testing. So I believe that gay men should not be discriminated against and not be able to give blood or donate organs solely because of their choice of gender they choose to sleep with.
Hey, but there’s a thing here.. the sue wasn’t because he gave blood BEING gay.. the sue is because he gave blood LYING about being gay!! Don’t confuse!!
So, we are all about gay rights and against homophobia, but the man who lied about his own sexuality in a health case is right?? Isn’t that kind of hypocrite??
This isn’t about being gay or not, of being discriminate because he was gay… this is because he made a lie in a med apply. Why should we being defending him??
And AA, I know your health status is ok, but lets face it, most of gay services are really close to the fact of having sex: manhunt, gay bathclubs, darkrooms at clubs, cabins at gayshops, gay internet places with privates and more.. yes, some are clearly safe as you are, but not the most!! And i repeat, if your’re healthy, your blood will be accepted, so to lie.. that would mean that he lied for a reason, dont you think??
I remember when at age 17 I went to the blood bank after class to give blood for the first time. Like the local ads had encouraged me to I wanted to be like so many in my family, a hero, save lives, and be a good citizen.
It was the first time I ever felt discriminated against for being homosexual -those couple of times I’d done it with a boy (I hadn’t even had anal sex, but hey sex is sex!) landed me right there next to the drug users and prostitutes. I was obviously diseased scum in the eyes of the healthcare system.
Blood donors should be screened based on how safely they, as individuals, practise sex, but not with which gender they do it with. Anything else is just homophobic discrimination.
There’s an interesting article on Wikipedia on the matter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSM_blood_donor_controversy
The two week HIV “viral” test has existed for a long time, and right now they are doing it for free in Vancouver rather than just the 3/6 month tests.
It determines to 99% accuracy whether or not you’ve been infected with HIV prior to two weeks earlier.
There is NO REASON why the Canadian Blood Services should not be running this on EVERY APPLICANT. Why would you fucking trust anybody with something this sensitive? Aside from how idiotic it would be for anybody who’s had unprotected sex to give blood without being asserted of their status via blood testing, the testing when you give blood should be looked at as it’s own blood test, as some people are just stupid enough to not know.
if this is already being done, then yet again I’m ashamed to be a Canadian citizen, although I know this isn’t solved in the US either. If it isn’t being done, then yet again, I’m ashamed to be a Canadian citizen.
Hopefully this fag wins his court battle and sets worldwide precedence.
The US ban is not just against men who have have sex with with a man at least once. Its also against a woman who’s had sex with a man even once who’s had sex with a man even once. That’s WAY higher than 10% of the population. I say people should lie to help save the lives of people they love.