Posted on 02/23/2005 8:47:22 PM PST by Lorianne
DURHAM — The University of New Hampshire’s Student Senate will consider adopting a resolution tomorrow that would challenge the federal government’s policy of banning sexually active gay men from donating blood.
Sponsored by student Sen. Nicholas Christiansen, a 19-year-old sophomore, and the student senate’s Community Change Council, the resolution wants the Food and Drug Administration and the American Red Cross to become, in its words, “aware of our strong opposition to the policy that bans sexually active homosexual males from ever donating blood, and that the students are dedicated to equal treatment and opportunity for all people, regardless of sexual orientation.”
If adopted, the resolution would recommend that UNH seek a group other than the Red Cross for campus blood drives. The FDA’s policy has been in place since the 1980s and is meant to avoid spreading HIV, the virus that causes AIDs. About half of reported cases of HIV infections are among gay men.
“We’re not trying to ban the Red Cross from our campus, at least not immediately,” Christiansen said. “The resolution states that we’re going to try and find someone else to take our blood.”
Christiansen, who is gay, said he began working on the resolution during winter break after friends questioned why gay men are prohibited from giving blood. He acknowledged that the Red Cross is adhering to federal guidelines but said his resolution calls out the Red Cross because that group opposes any change in the FDA policy.
Michael Freedman, chief of American Red Cross Blood Services for New England, said the issue has been raised on other college campuses in the region but he was not aware of a formal resolution from a student government group. He said the Red Cross is following FDA guidelines in barring gay men sexually active since 1977 from being blood donors.
“We are supportive of the science that would make the blood supply as safe as possible, and allow as many people as possible to donate safely,” he said.
Other factors limiting blood donation include illness, drug use, and time spent in countries with diseases or viruses that can be passed through blood. For example, travelers to the United Kingdom are not allowed to give blood in the United States because of fears of spreading mad-cow disease, Freedman said.
The Red Cross holds blood drives on the UNH campus throughout the academic year.
College campuses and high schools provide about 360,000 pints of blood, or 15 percent, of all the blood collected for banks in New England, Freedman said.
“All major colleges are important,” he said. “First, because of the volume, and also because people can donate over their lifetime and we believe it’s important to get people to start early and get in the volunteer mindset of donating blood.”
Freedman said Red Cross representatives would speak with UNH students about the policy if invited, but that he was not aware of any Red Cross representatives planning to attend the student senate meeting tomorrow.
“I think a lot of people say, they’re the Red Cross, and they are great, but it doesn’t mean they can discriminate,” Christiansen said. “I think it would send a really strong message to say even the Red Cross can’t do this.”
You are contemplating a hate crime. :-)
I want to take time reading this article. From the little I gathered by just the posts, I had to walk away. I will go and take my blood pressure pill and be back. That is if I don't get physically sick before.
Yeah, it IS enough to make you sick. The homosexual agenda is in our faces, non-stop.
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