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Blood Donation
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I want to donate bone marrow. But in the UK as I understand, they require you to give blood first, then you can be considered for bone marrow.
But that "men who have sex with men can't give blood" still confuses me. All blood is screened before use, appropriate measures are taken to prevent the contamination of blood, so why is it still a CAN'T?
I'm not saying anyone infected should be allowed to donate blood, because it's obvious it wouldn't be of any use. But anyone who knows they are infected would already know this and not donate. Is it a case of "well 63% (taken from their website) of AIDS/HIV suffers are gay men, so lets not bother taking their blood, it is a waste of time and money." - even for those who know they AREN'T infected? and even those who use condoms?
I'm currently not in the same boat, as I'm still a virgin in terms of going the whole 9 yards, but I could still be refused because I've done other things.
But that "men who have sex with men can't give blood" still confuses me. All blood is screened before use, appropriate measures are taken to prevent the contamination of blood, so why is it still a CAN'T?
I'm not saying anyone infected should be allowed to donate blood, because it's obvious it wouldn't be of any use. But anyone who knows they are infected would already know this and not donate. Is it a case of "well 63% (taken from their website) of AIDS/HIV suffers are gay men, so lets not bother taking their blood, it is a waste of time and money." - even for those who know they AREN'T infected? and even those who use condoms?
I'm currently not in the same boat, as I'm still a virgin in terms of going the whole 9 yards, but I could still be refused because I've done other things.
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Here is a page from the National Blood Service site, explaining the reasoning behind exclusion of men who have had sex with men : http://www.blood.co.uk/can-i-give-blood/exclusion/
The thing is, I've already read up on HIV testing, and it says that it takes from 30 days in some people, and up to 6 months for it to be noticable. Surely if they say men who have had sex with other men can't donate blood until at least 6 months (with 12 months being the case with treatment during the window period) after their last sexual act, or until tests are conclusive - whatever comes first, rather than it out-ruling completely?
I mean surely it's still degrading at some point because I'm being generalized because of my sexuality. I know the stereotype of gay men is to sleep around with anyone, but I don't.
I really want to donate, I don't want something like this to prevent me.