Gay people and blood donation?

I heard somewhere gay men and women aren't allowed to give blood in America?

is it true?

There's a question on the Canadian Blood survey that excludes any male who has been sexually active (does not even specify what sort of sexual act) with any other man since the 70's AND any female who has been sexually active with a male who was sexually active with another male since the 70's.

I'll bet there's a similar question on any US paperwork.

It doesn't "disallow" all gay men, just those who are sexually active regardless of safe sex or if the activity doesn't extend to intercourse... Which is sad, seeing as it's no longer gay males who are the ones catching all the new cases of HIV (statistically speaking), but young heterosexual females.

It's an outdated concept that all gay males engage in unsafe sex and have a higher risk of HIV. The whole situation needs to be looked at by an independent medical board, and the longer it stays this way the more lives we loose from lack of full blood banks.

The day the "no gay blood" deal is resolved, I would bet a lot of people would go donate their blood just because they can... heck, I just might...

It is true. You will be asked some questions and the way that you answer them determines if your blood is used or discarded.
Recently a friend of mine had a heart attack and died from it. He was a organ and tissue donor. This guy was gay and had had five sex partners in 48 years of life. the last one for 16 years. All of his organs, corneas, skin, everything was refused by the organizations who had custody of it. He was a microbiologist and knew the risks and was careful but it made no difference they still declined the donations.
So you can give the blood but they will just toss it out if you answer the questions wrong.

To be quite frank with you, I do it, but I'm not sexually active.
I've heard that before, but I think that is an iffy situation, like it depends on your history, etc.
I think that is ridiculous though, because heterosexual people are just as apt to get HIV as homosexual men. We aren't diseased creatures.
Also I think they do blood check-ups anyway so they should test it out there rather than rejecting a man to give blood due to his sexual orientation.

Well to be perfectly honest right now in america the group that has the highest percentage of HIV cases are African American Individuals. If the blood donation centers placed a ban on them all hell would break loose. This is not just them protecting the Blood supply, it is straight out discrimination.

Estimated numbers of AIDS cases in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, by race or ethnicity:

Race or Ethnicity Estimated # of AIDS Cases in 2007
Cumulative Estimated # of AIDS Cases, Through 2007*
American Indian/Alaska Native 3,492
Asian 7,511
Black/African Americans 426,003
Hispanic/Latino 169,138
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander 721
White 404,465

I donate to the red cross (not gay) but I know that before you give they ask you a lot of questions and if you have sex with a male you can never give blood ever again for life. Just like if you go to Africa for more than two years or live their for more than two, you can never donate blood again. But I dont think they say if you gay you cant donate blood just if you have sex with another man or woman or any kind.

It has stirred some controversy but I dont ever hear anything about anyone speaking out against it. Probably because the red cross is a none profit, so they can set their own rules. Like boys scouts.

They do it because homosexuals are at a higher risk of getting HIV/ AIDS. But oddly enough all the blood is tested for this anyway. So I dont see what else they could justify the rule with.

Lesbian- yeah i heard that too. my Friend wanted to donate blood. but he asked that same question to the blood drive and they didn't answer him. nor let him give blood. lol so, (he was not apart of this) i egged their blood drive van.. see how they like it. they didnt cause the sun got to it before they could! :) but they cant stop you from donating. that is too personal for them to ask

If you don't have any diseases or viruses!
No one has to tell the blood banks that he is gay or not!
They just don't accept bad blood.
The AIDS virus came through the blood bank system and NOT from gays! It was past on from that system and not from a gay person.
Former President Reagan made it seem to be coming from Gays.

only if they have some sort of bloodborne disease like HIV or AIDS. There's such a push for blood donations that they can't ethically say "you can't." I would love to be the patient who died because the only available donor was an able-bodied homosexual.

That is true, this act was passed in 1983, and is still in effect within the United States.. However, there are a few nations that used to have this ban, but have lifted it. Russia is one of those countries that no longer have that specific ban; it is not a myth. Look it up.

i know in the state of florida if you've had same- sex umm..sex within the last year you can't

but i can't donate blood regardless because i was born in Germany in the 80's during the mad cow epidemic

It's only true if you declare that you have had sex with another male, provided you are a male... If you lie, then you can donate.

It's the same in the UK and in Canada, and other places, I'm sure.

it is true, i have given blood before when they asked on my sexualality and i just said straight before i was out, i went after i came out and said i was lesbian and they wouldnt let me give blood that time.

well i live in australia.. and i have offered up my blood... and they start with the q's... apparently being a lesbian is a risk... i told them i was in a ltr... almost 10 years.... but nope.. didn't want my blood.. fineeeeeee...

I've actually heard that to. I'm not sure if its true. Maybe they have a "don't ask, don't tell" on that to. lol.

Maybe the people to ask are the people who take your blood!!

Men who have had sex with men after 1977 cannot give blood, that is true. It's a stupid rule.

Yes, I heard that as well. Apparently that is still the case these days

well, never heard of this, but now I'm not really happy and am going to look into it

They're not bigoted, they're common sense (at least they probably were when they were made).

I'm sorry to say it, but gays are much, much more promiscuous than straight people. A gay man has three times more sex in his life than a straight man, and gay men have on average twice as many partners in their life as a straight man.

The AIDS epidemic started with the gay community, and for a long time was almost entirely confined there. People were dropping dead left and right from the 70's through the 90's.

It's simply to protect the blood patients; there are hundreds of other "bigoted" rules too; you can't donate blood if you've been to a high risk country in the last 5 years, you can't donate blood if you've ever had certain diseases, there's lots of rules.

Un no that's false 100% myth

wow 2 thumbs down.....really