Red Cross Blood Donor Eligibility Requirements

This topic has bothered me for a LONG time, but only now do I have a venue that I think is appropriate for expressing my feelings.

There is a blood drive being organized at the office of my employer. As is the case with any other drive or opportunity to volunteer, I would like very much to lend my support. I've raised thousands of pounds of food for the hungry in two annual drives. I raised nearly $1500 to purchase hygiene products for needy families for a coworker's church group. I read with children in the SMART program and volunteer my writing/proofing/editing skills to the Multnomah County Health Department to aid in their producing effective HIV education materials. But can I give blood? No.

Here's the Red Cross statement of eligibility as it relates to HIV and AIDS, taken direct from http://www.redcross.org/services/biomed/0,1082,0_557_,00.html:

HIV, AIDS

You should not give blood if you have AIDS or have ever had a positive HIV test, or if you have done something that puts you at risk for becoming infected with HIV.

You are at risk for getting infected if you:

have ever used needles to take drugs, steroids, or anything not prescribed by your doctor

are a male who has had sexual contact with another male, even once, since 1977

have ever taken money, drugs or other payment for sex since 1977

have had sexual contact in the past 12 months with anyone described above

received clotting factor concentrates for a bleeding disorder such as hemophilia

were born in, or lived in, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea,Gabon, Niger, or Nigeria, since 1977.

since 1977, received a blood transfusion or medical treatment with a blood product in any of these countries, or had sex with anyone who, since 1977, was born in or lived in any of these countries.

I don't feel the need to explain how ridiculous the last bullet is. Suffice it to say that anyone (male or female) having had sex since 1977 is at risk. The list of criteria which would make you ineligible for donating blood is rather lengthy -- you'd be well advised to check for yourself.

I am not opposed to the HIV/AIDS question category as a whole, just the question about man-to-man sex. According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (www.unaids.org), pregnant women represent the highest segment of new HIV infections globally. African American women represent the fastest growing infection group here in the U.S.

No one would introduce a question that targeted a specific race or gender, so why do we tolerate Gay men being singled-out? I get that the safety of recipients of donated blood must come first, but I call into question the "science" used as a basis for this discrimination.