Blood donating: Gay blood not wanted

Years ago the blood services industry didn't want to hear about AIDS. They didn't want to spend a penny on testing, etc. It wasn't until many deaths occurred when the blood services industry finally made changes. I strongly suggest the movie "And the band played on".

But they went from one extreme (no testing) to the other extreme which included profiling of people donating blood. In their favor is the fact they didn't have a test for HIV (in the beginning). So these extreme rules can be understood. However, it's many years later and these rules have not changed.

In Canada, this issue has gained much press recently as students try to bar blood donation from campus.

It was not reason alone that got women the vote — it also took women marching in the streets and chaining themselves to the railings outside Parliament, actions that seemed radical at the time, just as The Gazette thinks is the case with the Students Against Queer Discrimination die-in outside Student Health Services on Tuesday.

When epidemiologists from Western and the University of Toronto say there is already good statistical evidence the CBS policy could be made less discriminatory without compromising the safety of the blood supply, it is both futile and condescending to keep repeating the “more research” argument. How much research would be enough?

Ultimately, such profiling techniques have no place, be it in screening blood donors or airplane passengers. Not only do they fail to serve the public interest to improve safety, but they also perpetuate negative attitudes toward the targeted groups.

What we hopefully can agree on, however, is people ought to be judged on their choices and actions in life, not on attributes such as gender, skin colour and sexuality.

Shausta Johnson says "This whole situation came about because SAQD wanted to save lives by donating blood, but getting CBS kicked off campus does just the opposite — a little ironic, don’t you think?"

Actually Shausta I think it's a bit ironic to say "we are in dire need of blood to save lives, but we don't want homosexual blood!"

If you are in fear of the blood then we are in fear of your ability to adequately test the blood. Do you people not hold all blood for time and then retest? Your fear says your testing is inadequate meaning the entire blood system could be tainted and the industry might not have a clue (again).

Finally, suggesting the lives of people depend upon a questionnaire, you hope is answered truthfully insults our intelligence.

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