The University has teamed up with Oregon State University to sponsor a Civil War Blood Drive this year, and blood collection is happening in the EMU Taylor Lounge today. The University’s Alumni Association Web page states that “all alumni, students, faculty, staff, and fans of both universities are invited” to participate.
Blood donation is important, and we would also like to encourage the entire community to give. Unfortunately, we can’t.
See, many students, faculty, staff, alumni and fans aren’t allowed to give blood, and we feel they should be warned in advance that they will be discriminated against if they try. The University isn’t offering this warning — although they certainly should — so we will.
According to Food and Drug Administration guidelines, if you are a male and admit to having sex with a male any time since 1977, you won’t be able to give blood. If you have piercings or tattoos (and the blood bank staff notice), you may not be able to give blood.
Other groups also are singled out as having a high risk for diseased blood and are not allowed to donate: people from many African countries, people who spent more than six months in some European countries, people who recently snorted coke, and the list goes on.
Some situations may increase the likelihood of diseased blood, and the country certainly needs to protect its blood supply. But there are significant problems with the male-male sex factor and the piercing factor, and these regulations need to change — or at least, be enforced fairly.
Men who have had sex with men since 1977 are not a monolithic group. Their sexual behaviors are not all of one type, and to group them together and consider them “more likely to be diseased” is prejudice, plain and simple.
First on the list of major concerns is that people are likely to lie when asked such personal questions. What good does it do, then, except to discriminate? The questionnaire does not attempt to determine the riskiness of the donor. Was the sex oral, anal or other? Was it safe sex or not? Was it one monogamous partner or not?
Of even more concern is that these questions are not asked of heterosexuals. There is a percentage of students who pass sexually transmitted diseases around like notes for a midterm. Why are we taking these students’ blood? Maybe we should only take blood from virgins, because in addition to the ritualistic appeal of such a rule, that’s the only way to nearly guarantee STD-free blood.
The piercing rule, in the editorial board’s experience, is applied based solely on appearance — another gross discrimination. Women with pierced ears are not regularly asked about their piercings, even though these may have be done in unsanitary conditions or in other states. But people with “weird” piercings are asked when the piercing was done and are told that it must have been done in Oregon and they must know the name of their piercer. Why isn’t this asked of everyone with piercings?
There is an easy answer to all of this prejudice: Test the blood. But wait: They already do. So if the country really does have a blood shortage, why are blood banks discriminating, and why isn’t all blood from any willing donor taken, tested and used if it’s clean?
We don’t have an easy answer, but community members should know that the University is asking them to participate in an event where they may encounter discrimination. With that said, give blood. If you can.