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National Blood Service Day of Action  [message #37972] Mon, 30 October 2006 10:56 Go to previous message
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Location: England
Registered: February 2004
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the UK faces a national blood shortage. There are not enough donars to meet the demand for life saving blood transfusions.
And yet, there is a large and untapped source of willing blood donars who are forbidden from donating by the discriminatory policies of the NBS
gay men, who have had anal intercourse are considered high risk and face a life time ban on blood donation. In comparison, heterosexual people who have engaged in such activity face only a year ban.

The reasoning is of course that HIV/AIDS is a gay disease, and any man whose had anal sex is incredibly likely to have it, regardless of whether the sex was protected or not. This being despite the fact that sex is one of the harder ways of transmitting HIV, and that transmission requires one partner to have the virus, and that only 50,000 people in the UK have the disease, not all of them gay men, and that use of a condom will prevent the spread of the disease.
Moreover, the ban applies despite the fact the man in question might have recently had a sexual health test, been pronounced clean, and not had anal sex since then. It also applies despite the fact the NBS screen every sample of blood they recieve for a whole host of virus' and bacteria, including HIV/AIDS.

Does this sound unfair to you? does it sound discriminatory, does it sound borderline stupid? It does to the National Union of Students.

on Thursday 2nd November the NUS LGBT Campaign is holding a national Day of Action in protest over the discriminatory policies of the NBS. The campaign aims to encourage blood donation, by asking people to donate in place of all those who cannot, and at the same time raise awareness of the fact that gay men cannot give blood, and collect signatures for a petition going to the department of health. The campaign is spearheaded by Scott Cuthbertson, the NUS LGBT Officer.

“Students across the UK are very angry about this discrimination. The questions asked at blood donation sessions mean that all gay and bisexual men are banned from giving blood, regardless of their behaviour, whilst high-risk heterosexual people slip through the net. It is time that the National Blood Services changed their homophobic policy and lifts the ban on gay and bisexual men. Other countries have already changed their policies sending a clear message that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is unacceptable; it is time for NBS to do the same. The LGBT community is very diverse, and a blanket ban against all gay and bisexual men is no longer appropriate.”

He added

“NUS LGBT priority campaign this year is “Donation not Discrimination”. The main tenet of this campaign is to ensure a review of the policy takes place, so that the behaviour of the individual is assessed rather than their membership of a group. ”

currently events are being staged at::
London (Oxford street)
Birmingham
Manchester
Derby
York
Edinburgh
Liverpool
Glasgow
Aberdeen
Brighton
Bournemouth
Nottingham
Reading
Stoke-on-Trent

each event is being staged by Local Students Unions LGBT Societys and/or LGBT Officers.

Please, if you live nearby, go down to the local blood donation centre where these activities are being held, sign the petition, and help end discrimination.
and if you, unlike me, are able to, do something special, give blood, save a life.


Aden Lucas
General Secretary, Keele LGBT Society
Event Co-ordinator, Stoke-on-Trent

for more information about the local event in your area, contact
lgbt@nus.org.uk
or
email your local universities LGBT society, contact details via students unions website

apologies if this blatent campaign advertising is offensive to some, and inapplicable to others, its on LGBT issue i feel very strongly about however, and i for one am glad the NUS shares my belief.


Odi et amo: quare id faciam, fortasse requiris.
Nescio, set fieri sentio et excrucior
 
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