The Student News Site of Foothill Technology High School

The Foothill Dragon Press

The Student News Site of Foothill Technology High School

The Foothill Dragon Press

The Student News Site of Foothill Technology High School

The Foothill Dragon Press

Follow Us On Instagram!

Looking a gift horse in the mouth

blooddrive

blooddriveDiscrimination is everywhere: in the streets, in the media, and in the work place – but discrimination isn’t always bad, it can even save lives. The American Red Cross does this every day, determining who can and can’t donate blood without risking their health or the health of someone else. But imagine walking into a blood drive and being turned away not because you were a former intraveneous drug user, or carrier of hepatitis, but because you are gay.

With only 38% of the population of the U.S. considered eligible to donate blood, and only 5% of those eligible donors actually giving blood to the 5 million plus patients in this country needing donations, you would think that blood donation organizations would want to tap as many sources as they can. However, none have stepped up to confront the Surgeon General on these discriminating rules… for thirty years.

Of all of the people excluded during the screening process, the most unfounded rejection of possible donors would have to be the thousands of gay and bisexual men that are either turned away by the American Red Cross or forced to hide their sexual orientation. TheAIDs epidemic was spreading across the US at a rapid pace, and still is. Because the disease was first discovered in gay men, the Reagan administration found it necessary to ban blood donation from all men who have had sex partners of the same gender at any point between now and 1970.

It’s no secret that the LGBTQ community has been subjected to innumerous radical archetypes, but few have packed such an emotional punch against the community as the ‘gay blood’ ban. By denying them the opportunity to help save a life, we are not only depriving the receivers of the blood a chance to live longer, but we are also telling this minority that they are not even as good as the lowest in society. It seems rather archaic, the idea that your blood isn’t good enough for someone else.

It’s something so small, and yet is says something so meaningful about our society.

Have we really become so absorbed with miracle diet pills, anxiety medication, and sleeping sedatives that we have forgotten that giving our blood to another human in need is far more productive and lifesaving? We’ve become so caught up in our own negative prejudices that we have neglected to give people a chance to surprise us, to do some real guaranteed good.

These defunct regulations need to be removed. What started out as a reasonable precaution in a time where we new very little about AIDs, is now a degrading, unnecessary, and segregating restriction founded on old stereotypes of homosexual promiscuity and disease infestation. There is no real reason that gay and bisexual men should be excluded from blood donation today because all blood given to the American Red Cross, and every other major blood donation service, is screened for hepatitis and HIV/AIDs.

Now that we know that HIV/AIDs isn’t ‘gay cancer’ and can, in fact, be contracted just as easily by heterosexual men and women as the LGBTQ community, there is no longer any medical concern that is requiring a ban against gay men wanting to donate life saving blood.

It only takes ten minutes of your time and a single pint of blood to save up to three people, but blood only has a shelf life of about two to three weeks during which it can be transferred to another person without adverse effects.

With only such a small portion of eligible donors giving their blood, can we really afford to exclude potential donors?

 

Photo: Seniors outside a blood drive bus last year that was temporarily stationed inside the parking lot at Foothill. Photo by Cierra Whitehead of The Foothill Dragon Press.

What do you think?
Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

Comments on articles are screened and those determined by editors to be crude, overly mean-spirited or that serve primarily as personal attacks will not be approved. The Editorial Review Board, made up of 11 student editors and a faculty adviser, make decisions on content.
All The Foothill Dragon Press Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Activate Search
The Student News Site of Foothill Technology High School
Looking a gift horse in the mouth