There are people in the world who don't focus their lives around sex. Not to mention; there are those who are involuntarily celibate (meaning, they just can't find someone special enough for sexual activity.)

In addition, there are plenty of men who do not identify themselves as being gay, but have had homosexual experiences decades ago, perhaps in college or in prison, but have since gone on to identify as heterosexual.

Currently, these men (and the women who sleep with them) are barred from donating.

You won't have to wait long. They're great at quoting Leviticus. Blech.

hint to red cross: black females have the highest AIDS prevalence, should they be banned from donating?

Exactly, Mmm

African-American females aged 18-34 are the biggest growing demographic of people with HIV in the U.S.

It's time that the U.S. rethink its blood donation policy.

I know plenty more monogamous gay people than monogamous straight people.

Oh hi racist Cassi,

Didn't know you were over here being racist and then on the other board calling others racist. Anyway, good to see you.

John,

If you read my posts, you will see that I am simply not a racist.

There are facts in the world. And one of those facts is that young African-American women are the highest growing demographic for HIV infections.

Ignoring this fact simply because these women are African-American would be racist. These women already have enough trouble accessing proper healthcare.

The truth is not racist.

You, however, with your "I didn't own slaves; I don't owe you anything" philosophy are either incredibly naive, ignorant, racist, or some combination of the three.

Please tell me what to do Cassi to make up for slavery in America. While you are at it, please tell me what to do to make up for any group that has ever been a slave in the history of the human world.

I have English, French, German, and some Romanian blood. I know that for sure, going back to my gparents. Who is going to apologize to me for the slaughter of Romanian people? Do I need to apologize to Jews for my German blood? Do I need to apologize to the regular Frenchman for horrible behavior of the French aristocracy back in the day?

The past is the past. All we can do now is treat everyone fairly and be nice to each other. I do those things. Based on the way I hear people talking, I am way more fair and balanced than the average person. What more do you want? Tell me.

John,

Do you really feel the need to follow me throughout newsvine and harass me?

Perhaps you should keep your comments related to the topic of the seeded article.

This article is no place for you to rant about how you think you are not racist.

All blood is tested for HIV (I believe it is actually tested twice).

The problem with HIV and some other viruses is that the blood can be infected but not test positive for a couple of months.

So, if someone is infected with HIV today, then gives blood next week, the current tests may not catch the virus in the blood - even though the blood could *possibly* pass the virus on to the recipient (if I remember correctly, there has just been one case of this happening in the past 10 years).

So, until we can get a more precise test for HIV, a waiting period is a good idea.

However, as it stands, men who have had sex with men since I believe 1977 are not allowed to donate blood, which, in effect, is a ban.

But, a person who has had 50 or more opposite-sex sexual partners in the past year is eligible to donate, even though he or she poses a much higher risk of having an undiagnosed HIV infection.

Whole blood and blood products such as red blood cells can only be stored for about a month.

Ahh I see, 42 days storage for red blood cells. Thank you!

Although frozen plasma can be stored for one year. Very interesting.

http://www.americasblood.org/go.cfm?do=page.view&pid=12

It all depends upon which preservatives are used.

But, doctors are finding that the longer blood has been stored, the more chance there is that the recipient will have problems with "rejecting" the transfusion.

So, whole blood products are usually used by the 21 day mark.

There was an article around here the other day about the difficulties that LGBT people have with obtaining proper medical care.

While all the major medical associations think that all physicians should be able to treat all patients, many major associations tell doctors that if they can't get over their own prejudices against LGBT people, they should "fire" their patient and tell them they should seek treatment elsewhere.

I have a feeling no one would suggest that doctors do the "moral" thing and "fire" their African American or Jewish or whatnot patients.

So, bigotry in the medical community, one of the places in which one would expect to find a higher level of acceptance, is still alive and well. And, as long as the doctor does not deny life-saving emergency care or prevent the patient from seeking care elsewhere, it is perfectly legal.

Thus, these same doctors never bother to suggest that these young African American women should be tested yearly for HIV infection. So, they continue on in ignorance.

The LGBT community, who tends to be better educated about STDs and HIV than the general public, has a different problem: they know they should be tested and have regular preventative care, but they have trouble finding care providers who are willing to treat them as people.

Do you know why young black females rates are increasing?

Because the black community is waaaay more conservative when it comes to homosexuality. So gay black men have full on relationships with women (because that is what they are told is appropriate) but they also have sex with other men "on the down-low," catch these diseases and pass it on to the women who they are in relationships with. These men swear up and down they are not gay or bi because though they may have sex with other men that's all they do, they do not have relationships with other men so they aren't gay.

Gay men are banned because their sexual practices make them more susceptible to HIV and other infections than heterosexuals and lesbians. Though the rate of black female infections are on the rise that is mostly linked to poor education and poor healthcare the same can't be said for gay men.

With that said I'm for lifting the ban if the proper limitations are set. Though homosexuality isn't a choice, to take part in certain sexual behaviors is. Just like getting tattoos, going to third world countries, voluntarily having sex for money/drugs, [if you're a woman] knowingly have sex with men who have sex with other men, are all choices. And it are these choices that result in a person being banned (for a certain amount of time or indefinitely) from donating blood.

Does that mean that the medical community is "tattoo-ist", "travel-ist", "prostitute-ist", and "bisexual-ist"? No.

Just because a person has a tattoo does that mean they have hepatitis? No.

Just because a person doesn't have tattoos does that mean they don't have hepatitis? No.

But at the end of the day a person who recently got a tattoo will be banned from donating blood and a person who didn't, won't. Why? Because one poses a greater risk than the other.

Yes, Sam

I mentioned this elsewhere in this article, I think.

It is why the American Red Cross and other medical agencies usually use the term "Men who have sex with men (MSM)" rather than call anyone "gay".

Men in the African-American community are not very likely to self-identify as being gay or homosexual, while they actually have the same percentage of "gay" men as the white community.

Plus, when you take into consideration that African-American men are statistically more likely to be imprisoned, we have to also realize that statistically an African-American male is more likely to have had sex with another man (and more likely to have had sex with an HIV-positive male) than the average white male or non-imprisoned African-American male.

Of course, due to the discrimination against gays in the African-American community, a man is much less likely to inform his heterosexual sex partners of his previous homosexual engagements than a white man, whose community is more tolerant of gays and bisexuals.

Frankly, prisoners are so likely to have some sort of blood-bourne pathogen such as HIV or a version of Hepatitis that perhaps "Have you ever been incarcerated?" should be one of the questions the Red Cross asks.

As for your second comment, it would be nice if the questions actually did focus on behaviour.

Gay men have a higher than average risk of HIV as a group for two reasons: one, they engage in anal sex more often, and two, they, as a group, tend to have more sexual partners.

So, a "straight" man who enjoys anal sex and who has the same number of sex partners will have the same risk of HIV contraction as a gay man, when the population of partners is controlled for.

So, instead of basically asking when the last time a man had gay sex was, it would be better to ask how many sexual partners the man has had.

A happy and monogamous gay couple has the same risk of HIV as a happy monogamous straight couple, even if they had sex yesterday.