Originally published at: France rules that gay & bisexual men can donate blood | Boing Boing
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Thank goodness he has the plasticity of mind to have evolved his thinking, but this is a mentality that I just cannot comprehend. Unless something can provably be shown to cause harm in its attempt to rectify discrimination (which is rarely ever the case), a multifaceted and sustained approach is always warranted because discrimination itself is multifaceted. This mentality led to the gutting of the Voting Rights Act which led to a rush of discriminatory legislation that still didn’t result in the outcome desired, so now we see a doubling-down of discriminatory lawmaking.
Edited for auto-correct correction.
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Hallelujah! United States next, please
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The only reason 1st World countries are doing this is because they need plasma badly.
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I’ll pretend to believe that it’s also because it’s just the right thing to do. The spectre of AIDS and fears of a polluted blood supply mean the rules keep a lot of viable donors away, and ultimately cost lives.
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Nothing motivates humans more than need & greed. I wish I could hold your point of view, but sadly I have little to no faith in humanity lately.
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Sadly true. I did say pretend. 
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Probably was found that the actual problem is promiscuous sex habits and cheating. I don’t know for France but for Italy they’ve become more selective on medicines taken or illnesses. As a blood donor got bounced because I had an herpes episode and was taking aciclovir, or because had to take steroids the week before.
I decided to explore my bisexuality much later in life and one of the things I lamented having to give up is donating blood, something I did with somewhat regularity. The close-mindedness still stings.
The irony that guys on Prep are disqualified is ludicrous. It’s punishing those who choose to act responsibly. I’ve heard it’s because tests can’t differentiate between Prep and the actual HIV virus. I can buy that if it’s true, but I can’t help but think it’s just an excuse.
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Hint for gay/bisexual men in the United States: just straight-up lie on this one particular question. It’s worth it to save lives. I don’t advocate lying on any other questions, but this one is a relic that’s already on the way out. It may have made sense statistically once, long ago when HIV was new, but the idea that AIDS is a gay disease is outdated, offensive and false. Just lie and donate your perfectly healthy, useful blood if that’s the kind you have.
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Are you saying that ALL gay and bi men are promiscuous? That seems a little bit of stereotyping.
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I read that as: “probably was found that the actual problem was a promiscuous lifestyle, rather than the community that stereotype had been applied to.”
The questionnaire (In both Canada and the US anyway) includes a plethora of questions about sexual promiscuity, including questions like “Have you ever taken money for sex?” and “Have you ever had sex with someone who’s taken money for sex?” that are clearly trying to suss out behaviours the blood orgs believe lead to HIV infections. Assuming my read of @Mike.71’s take is correct, then I agree, hopefully they’re asking the explicit questions that are needed to get the answers they believe necessary, instead of asking questions that stereotype an entire group of people into “high-risk”.
While no questionnaire is going to avoid lumping folks into categories they probably shouldn’t be in, I’m hoping someone has been paying attention and updating these as behaviours and social norms change around risky blood-borne-illness behaviours. This particular stereotype was never valid and should never have been on this questionnaire to begin with, though, and Canada and the US would do well to follow suit here.
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Sure, but specific people have been banned from giving blood, based on their sexual orientation and the perception that they are more promiscuous. That’s specifically what I’m objecting to. The questionnaire can most certainly be a means of reinforcing stereotypes in general.
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Yes, so am I, if I wasn’t clear!
I’m hoping that the reason for this change is that the FNA realized that the “behaviours” that these individuals had been attributed with, for no other reason than their sexual orientation, were nothing more than a terrible stereotype, and I am saddened that both the US and Canada have yet to take this clearly obvious step.
I’ve given blood or platelets about 30 times in my life now and I always make a point to bring up this dumb set of questions every time I get a “We’d like your input” survey.
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I agree.
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This is the question are make in Scotland. I’m a blood donor and the questionnaire it’s a bit different, but the fact is that the question they’re asking are on bad sex habits, like going with prostitutes or having a lot of partners.
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