Centers refuse gay donors
By Jessica Webster
City
Editor
Even during severe
blood shortages, blood centers across America will never take blood donations
from men who say they've had sex with other men.
Several gay men at
Purdue have already been rejected by Indiana Blood Center, Cention Bio
Services and American Red Cross staff when the men answered yes to the
following question on the Food and Drug Administration-regulated donor
form: "Have you had sex with another male, even once, since 1977?"
For females, the
question is "In the past 12 months, have you had sex with a male who has
had sex, even once, since 1977, with another male?"
There are no questions
on this form about heterosexual sex. There are no questions about heterosexual
unprotected sex with multiple partners.
FDA spokeswoman Lenore
Gelb said the agency based the blood donor form on science, and heterosexuals
who have unprotected sex with multiple partners have not yet been identified
as "high risk" for HIV and AIDS.
"The questions are
based on epidemiological data from the Centers for Disease Control," said
Gelb. "The groups who are at greatest risk are (turned away). I think
the public appreciates our standards."
But gay men at Purdue
are pointing to statistics that show heterosexual women ages 18 to 24
as the newest "high-risk" group for HIV and AIDS.
Corey Linkel, a graduate
student and president of the LesBiGay Network, has been turned away by
blood centers. He said it's unfortunate that so many men who are not HIV
positive are turned away simply because of their sexual identity.
"I think it's sad
that there is this large group of people," said Linkel, "who are outright
denied the opportunity to give blood when people are complaining that
blood banks don't have enough blood to service those who need it.
"It seems like harassment
and discrimination because AIDS tests are done on all blood that's brought
into blood banks. There's no specific reason that I can see as to why
gay men are targeted as highest risk — because if you look at statistics
nowadays, women between the ages of 18 and 24 are high risk, especially
black and Hispanic women."
But the FDA and blood
centers assert it doesn't matter that they already test all blood.
"Tests aren't perfect,"
said Gelb.
Elise Brown, director
of communications and marketing for the Indiana Blood Center, said she
understands how some people could view the blood donor questions as problematic.
"We don't make up
that form, and we have absolutely no input on what goes on that form because
we are very regulated by the FDA," she said. "The bottom line is that
we just want the blood supply to be as safe as possible and if that excludes
someone, then we have to do that.
"There's been great
controversy in the blood business, you know. There's some controversy
going on now in California over those questions because some groups feel
(the questions) are discriminatory."
Garth Brazelton,
a sophomore in the School of Management and vice president of the LesBiGay
Network, said he tried to donate blood once in college but has since given
up trying. "I tried once in college and I wasn't out at that time," he
said, "so I really didn't want to have to go through the process of explaining
to my friends why they wouldn't let me donate.
"(These sex questions)
were probably created at a time when HIV and AIDS were still considered
to be gay diseases, so I think it's basically left over from an era where
everyone was scared of the 'homosexual disease.'
"Now we know that
HIV is not a gay disease. It crosses sexual divides; it crosses racial
divides. These FDA rules are basically out of date and need to be changed."
Statistics from the
CDC and the National HIV and AIDS hotline tend to support Brazelton's
assertions. The current "at risk" upward trend is for heterosexual youth,
women and minorities. In 1998, 65 percent of people with AIDS were African
American and Hispanic, while these groups make up less than 20 percent
of the population.
Men still have higher
rates of contracting HIV and AIDS than women, but it's not limited to
men who have sex with men, according to CDC reports. The HIV and AIDS
dynamics are changing. The leading cause of death for African-American
women in 1998 was HIV and AIDS, according to CDC numbers.
But the FDA blood
donor sex questions are still limited to questions about male gay sex.
"Listen, we know
this is a conservative policy," said FDA spokesperson Gelb. "We know there
are some donors that would be acceptable donors if we could assess them,
but this is an overlapping system of safeguards and I do think it's appropriate."
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