By Claire Lomax
University of Bradford students have converged on the city's blood donor centre to call for donation not discrimination'.
The students, members of the University's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Society, say the current National Blood Service policy, which bans gay and bisexual men from giving blood for life, is archaic and should be reviewed.
Yesterday's protest was part of a campaign by the National Union of Students (NUS), which believes the policy of asking men if they have ever had unprotected sex with another man is homophobic.
The campaign, outside the blood donor centre in Rawson Road, saw students encouraging friends, fellow students and passers-by to donate blood in place of the district's gay and bisexual men.
Student Josh Bradley, 19, was one of those protesting. He said: "We had a really successful day and handed out about 150 leaflets.
"We got eight people to give blood for us, seven of whom were first time donors. We have also managed to collect 72 signatures on our petition campaigning for an end to the ban."
Josh said the policy was homophobic because it did not take into account whether sex was protected or how long ago sexual activity took place.
"This gives a somewhat contradictory message about the use of condoms in sexual acts," he said. "If sex is safe and consensual, the argument is it should be considered low risk, no matter the genders of the people involved.
"A man who experimented safely with same-sex relationships 20 years ago would be banned from giving blood, whilst a promiscuous heterosexual man would be free to give blood."
A spokesman for the National Blood Service said it had a duty to ensure a supply of safe blood.
"This includes a clear responsibility to minimise the risk of a blood transfusion transmitting an infection to patients," she said.
"In order to assure the continued safety of the blood supply, we currently ask those in groups shown to have a high risk of carrying blood-borne viruses not to give blood.
"Men who have sex with men continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV and account for 63 per cent of HIV diagnoses where the infection was likely to have been acquired in the UK.
"The reason for this exclusion rests on specific sexual behaviour rather than sexuality. There is no exclusion of gay men who have never had sex with a man nor of women who have sex with women."
To find out more about who can give blood visit blood.co.uk.
e-mail: claire.lomax @telegraphandargus.co.uk
www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive
Northern Ireland Students Tell National Blood Service
BELFAST, May 8, 2008 – Students from campuses throughout Northern Ireland are campaigning today for the National Union of Students – Union of Students in Ireland Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (NUS-USI LGBT) day of action over the 'gay blood donation ban'.
Hundreds of students are joining the campaign to argue that the current UK National Blood Service's policy, which bans gay and bisexual men from giving blood for life, is outdated. They are united in calling for a review of the policy.
The day of action sees Northern Ireland students encouraging friends, fellow students and passers-by to donate blood in place of the thousands of gay and bisexual men who can't.
"It's really frustrating because lots of gay and bisexual students want to give blood but can't because of the ban," said Katie Morgan, president of NUS-USI.
"The criteria for blood donors, as set out by the National Blood Service, excludes all gay and bisexual men from giving blood, regardless of their behaviour, whilst high-risk heterosexual people slip through the net.
"Students throughout Northern Ireland are very angry about this discrimination," she said.
"It's not someone's sexual identity that makes them high risk, but their sexual practices.
"Heterosexual people who engage in high-risk behaviour are not banned, but deferred for a limited time: a blanket ban perpetuates the myth that HIV/Aids is a gay disease, and does not treat donors equally and on the basis of actual risk.
"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.
"NUS-USI LGBT priority campaign this year is "Donation not discrimination".
"The main aim of this campaign is to ensure a review of the policy takes place, so that it is solely the behaviour of the individual that is assessed," she concluded.
http://media.www.thedailyaztec
A resolution could kick them off campus for anti-gay policies
Alanna Berman, Staff Writer
Students at San Diego State recently received an award from the Red Cross for donating more blood than any college in the country, but if a controversial resolution passes the Associated Students council, all that will change.
Tomorrow, the council will vote on the resolution authored by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Student Union, which would prohibit blood banks from bringing mobile donation units onto campus because of their discriminatory policies.
The resolution is controversial. A.S. executives contacted declined to comment. President James Poet was contacted, but could not be reached for deadline.
Some council members requested that the resolution be voted by a secret vote, but it was declined because it is against A.S. policy.
"No one wants to not have the blood drives on campus, and I don't want to stop them from coming but when I brought (the resolution) up to the council, it became apparent that we needed to ban it because it is in clear violation of the policies of the school," Bryan Morelock, A.S. representative for the LGBTSU said.
The blood banks are currently in violation of a California State University policy, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. According to Food and Drug Administration regulations, blood banks cannot accept donations from men who have had sex with other men since 1977.
"My hope is that the FDA and blood banks will see (the resolution) and realize that this practice is discriminatory and change their policies, and perhaps set in motion a stand against discrimination on campuses," Morelock said.
The FDA regulation began during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s when not much was known about the disease. Fear of rising rates of infection led to the ban.
"There was supposedly a high incidence (of infection) within the gay community and AIDS was referred to as the gay disease," Morelock said.
Much more information is now known about the disease and the highest rates of new infection are among African-Americans and not homosexual men, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
"The FDA can't continue to use the AIDS argument for justification anymore because they would have to prohibit African-Americans from donating blood, and of course they wouldn't do that," Morelock said.
All donated blood is tested for any infectious disease before it is accepted, and donations that are not useable are disposed of before given to patients.
"This isn't something to be taken lightly because those people that donate blood on campus would probably not go off campus to do the same, which means donations would decrease, and we don't want to do that," Morelock said.
The university president at San Jose State University recently banned blood drives from their campus because of the CSU provision against discrimination. The action then prompted two community colleges and one private college in the area to do the same.
Morelock said that in light of these events, there is the fear of a domino effect should SDSU do the same.
"If that happens, blood banks will have to examine their policies more closely and the FDA will have to do something," Morelock said.
Morelock expects the resolution to pass through A.S. council tomorrow, but it will still need approval from President Stephen Weber in order to take more action.
"We (the A.S. council) can't tell the school what to do, but we can make it known that we don't want open discrimination on our campus," Morelock said. "We have to take a stand because the law isn't just and it isn't right."
A.S. meetings are open to the public and are held every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in Council Chambers in the lower Aztec Center.
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