I’ve posted this before, but the STD numbers from the CDC when it comes to gay and bi men are truly frightening. Men who have sex with other men account for no less than 78% of new HIV infections each year. That’s an astounding number. Even moreso when you consider that the CDC claims MSM are 7% of the population, which is a much higher number than what Gallup or most other reliable polls would indicate.
The CDC *also* reports that MSM represent very similar numbers of new syphilis infections each year. Syphilis is still a killer in its own right.
It’s got NOTHING to do with bigotry or homophobia, or whatever other catchphrase these folks want to use. It’s just sound science not to take blood from such a high-risk group. If it were needle-sharing drug users we were talking about, no one would even think of lifting the ban.
BTW, one also needs to examine the circumstances under which a proposed lifting of the ban. The most common version is, MSM can donate if they honestly state they’ve not had a MSM encounter in the previous 12 months. Okay, seriously? How many people, straight or gay, in a physical relationship, are going to go chaste for a year simply to donate a pint of blood? I’m betting not many. What I would bet on is a lot of false claims of having refrained from MSM contact. In other words, the rule is just a political gimmick to get around a medically-sound law.
You make me think of another high risk group: women who have sex with lots of men. Or even with one man who gets around. Ugh
A way for them to get HIV tested, without paying. I read 1 out of 8 don’t even know they’re infected.