Allowing gay men to give blood

[BloodBan]

Hello Everyone,

You most likely already know that gay men in the UK (and many other countries) cannot give blood.

After 5 years of writing to the NHS here in the UK but getting nowhere, I have decided to launch this new petition to present to the NHS and the government later this year. The campaign has already been featured on the BBC and the NHS are now starting to take notice.

Please help by signing the petition at welcome to bloodban.co.uk - please sign our petition today

Other countries including Australia, France and Russia allow gay blood (the bizarre thing is that the UK imports blood from Australia as it's so low on stocks - therefore the UK doesn't seem to mind gay blood, as long as it's Australian and not British!)

If you have time, please also write to the NHS or to your country's health service - the more that people complain, the sooner this out of date policy will change.

Thanks for your support.

BloodBan.co.uk

[spotysocks]

Cool, i will have a look.

[Smurlos]

OK, so if they were to make it legal... who would actually get off their ass and go give some blood? I see all these threads and such of people moaning that gay people are unable to give blood, but then I actually wonder how many of them actually would, even if they could, or if it's like the forbidden fruit, where you want to, just because you can't mile:

[spotysocks]

I gave blood before but to be honest if i decide to donate blood will be for someone i care for such as family or friends. Obviously i cant do it in the UK as it stand now but it is good someone to have the possibility to do so regardless sexuality and other prejudices. What puzzles me is when someone gives blood and it gets tested and is disease free what is the problem? Do the tests lie and can miss something?

[Smurlos]

I gave blood before but to be honest if i decide to donate blood will be for someone i care for such as family or friends. Obviously i cant do it in the UK as it stand now but it is good someone to have the possibility to do so regardless sexuality and other prejudices. What puzzles me is when someone gives blood and it gets tested and is disease free what is the problem? Do the tests lie and can miss something?

Maybe it's going back to old traditions of your blood is your life force, and if you're gay, the gayness might get spread through the mixing of your blood with someone elses... (sooo old fashioned).

It's bloody stupid. I'd definitely give blood for someone I care about. I would love to say that I'd give it for anyone else too (if I could) but I am a bit scared of the whole process having never done it before, and not knowing what to expect so it may take a while (if it gets legalised) for me to actually get things into motion and such!

[Mark]

Mehhh I cant give blood anywayyyy.

[spotysocks]

Maybe it's going back to old traditions of your blood is your life force, and if you're gay, the gayness might get spread through the mixing of your blood with someone elses... (sooo old fashioned).

You think? Hmm.... That would be stupid.

I am not going to donate blood even though i could. It is not the needles although if the nurse is not good enough can give you nasty bruises but the whole process and the fuss is not appealing enough.

Regardless i will sign the petition because i think gay people should be able to give blood if they want to.

[Canucker]

In Canada the rule is:

Any male who has had sexual relations with another male in the last 5 years, cannot give blood or donate organs, due to high risk lifestyle. Even if you get tested you still cannot donate.

Sorta a non-issue here, and I really don't care unless my blood/organ was essential to a family member/loved one.

Their should be exceptions for those situations.

Oh and in Canada anal sex is at 18 years to consent to it, and vaginal sex is at 16 to consent to it. Thats had a few court challenges, but never been struck down yet. Mostly because its a form of sex that can occur in both homosexual and heterosexual relations, and doesn't specifically say "gays can't have sex until their 18 while straights can have sex 2 years earlier at 16", it says nobody can have anal sex until 18, straight or gay.

[pocket_pilgrim]

this is all about prejudice. no surprises :confused:

[Wilem]

I think it's an old rule still kicking around from the AIDS crisis panic type years, isn't it?

And I think a few conscientious sexually active gays will start giving blood,
But to be honest, most gays who want to give blood do so already.
They just lie on the forms. I know I do, and I know a good few others that do an all.

People need blood, I know I'm not diseased, and they'd pick it up when they screen it anyway, so fuck em.