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Just a friendly reminder... if you can donate blood, please do. (Original Post) redqueen Apr 2013 OP
Yep, even if you're nowhere near Boston. trotsky Apr 2013 #1
Or West. nt redqueen Apr 2013 #9
Donating is good for your immune system, too. It revs it up! randome Apr 2013 #2
or have the local blood centers follow around those 44 senators dembotoz Apr 2013 #3
i should add that i donate blood on a regular basis my current total is over 2 gallons dembotoz Apr 2013 #4
good for you! keep it up! rurallib Apr 2013 #5
Thanks for posting this! Wednesdays Apr 2013 #6
To find a blood donation center near you, go to redqueen Apr 2013 #7
I do every three months. Fantastic Anarchist Apr 2013 #8
A friendly reminder-the bigotry and ignorance of the heterosexualist culture denies me and other Bluenorthwest Apr 2013 #10
No, it doesn't. redqueen Apr 2013 #11
Nope, all gay men are barred from donating in the US, for 'reasons' that are about bigotry. Bluenorthwest Apr 2013 #13
I wrote the words in the OP. I know what they mean. nt redqueen Apr 2013 #14
But your claim that 'some are banned for health reasons' was bullshit and I showed it to be bullshit Bluenorthwest Apr 2013 #15
I wrote the words. I was referring to people like me, who can't donate for health reasons. redqueen Apr 2013 #16
I thought of you as a friend. I thought you'd get it. Instead you claimed what I said was not true. Bluenorthwest Apr 2013 #17
I'm re-reading your posts. And mine. We misunderstand each other. Bluenorthwest Apr 2013 #19
I understand and I'm sorry... redqueen Apr 2013 #20
Said and done. Fla_Democrat Apr 2013 #12
Good reminder...knr joeybee12 Apr 2013 #18
kick redqueen Apr 2013 #21

trotsky

(49,533 posts)
1. Yep, even if you're nowhere near Boston.
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 09:10 AM
Apr 2013

Blood supplies are almost always right on the edge in every location. Donate regularly!

dembotoz

(16,739 posts)
3. or have the local blood centers follow around those 44 senators
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 09:13 AM
Apr 2013

plenty of blood dripping from their hands

dembotoz

(16,739 posts)
4. i should add that i donate blood on a regular basis my current total is over 2 gallons
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 09:14 AM
Apr 2013

so I do not want someone to think I am against giving blood

rurallib

(62,346 posts)
5. good for you! keep it up!
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 09:46 AM
Apr 2013

I have been donating for 45 years now. Just noting yesterday that I seldom get sick.

Wednesdays

(17,249 posts)
6. Thanks for posting this!
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 09:55 AM
Apr 2013

My sigother is a regular donor.

I'd gladly donate all the time, too, but my blood could possibly kill someone. (My triglycerides numbers are usually in the thousands...heredity thing. Normal plasma is clear amber liquid--it looks similar to urine, but my plasma looks like a banana smoothie.)

Fantastic Anarchist

(7,309 posts)
8. I do every three months.
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 09:59 AM
Apr 2013

There's a mobile unit that comes by my office building.

Good time to go get some cookies and juice.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
10. A friendly reminder-the bigotry and ignorance of the heterosexualist culture denies me and other
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 10:20 AM
Apr 2013

gay people the ability to help by donating blood. So 'if you can' means 'if we let you, please do'.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
13. Nope, all gay men are barred from donating in the US, for 'reasons' that are about bigotry.
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 10:55 AM
Apr 2013

The bans were put in place long ago, and have been lifted in the UK, China, Mexico and other localities. The US continues to discriminate.
"One group that would like to help, but legally can't, may be moving one step closer to eligibility. Since the 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic decimated their community, gay men -- or MSMs (men who have sex with men) as they are called by federal agencies -- have not been allowed to donate blood. In June, a group of 64 U.S. legislators led by Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Illinois, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services encouraging it to move forward with a study that may lead to the end of the decades-old ban.

"We remain concerned that a blanket deferral of MSM for any length of time both perpetuates the unwarranted discrimination against the bisexual and gay community and prevents healthy men from donating blood without a definitive finding of added benefit to the safety of the blood supply," the letter said."
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/06/health/gay-men-blood-ban

This story is from March 16, one month ago:
Gay activists are stepping up their calls for the federal government to change its blood-donation policy and permit gay men give blood under some circumstances.

Currently, a man who has ever had sex with a man since 1977 is indefinitely deferred from donating blood.

Groups like the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and Banned4Life.org are supporting petition drives to lift the blood-donor ban for gay men, noting that the American Red Cross, American Association of Blood Banks and America’s Blood Centers support such a reform.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/16/gays-renew-calls-change-blood-donor-rules/?page=all

A call from Boston, MU student paper, this week:
According to CNN, blood donations were falling last summer with almost a 10 percent decline nationwide. I can’t help but wonder, as the article does too, if lifting the ban on blood donations from gay men would help stall that decline.

The ban on gay men donating blood stems from lack of knowledge about the AIDS epidemic, which can be traced back as early as 1977. The AIDS epidemic was closely correlated with the gay community, and therefore bans were put in place by the Food and Drug Administration to restrict any and all men who have had sex with other men from donating blood. Times have changed and surely almost four decades later we know that correlation is not causation. Yet this ban still exists and it’s hindering thousands of gay men from selflessly donating their blood to help those who need it."

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
15. But your claim that 'some are banned for health reasons' was bullshit and I showed it to be bullshit
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 11:20 AM
Apr 2013

All gay men are banned, and you said "NOPE" when it is the fact. If Mommy and Daddy let you, you can donate. If not, you can not. This is the heterosexualist culture.
I know what words like yours mean too. You say 'can' which means 'if the discriminatory and ignorant laws made by the heterosexuals allow you to, then do'.
People need to know the facts so that justice can happen. I don't need permission to state those facts. And they are the facts, this is an ongoing and rather major issue. The US lags behind the world, and even straights suffer for it.
Sorry that it is uncomfortable for you to have facts posted. I really did not expect you to freak out over the facts. Freaking out does not change those facts. Learning them might help make change. Repeating falsehoods helps no one.

redqueen

(115,096 posts)
16. I wrote the words. I was referring to people like me, who can't donate for health reasons.
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 11:24 AM
Apr 2013

I said nothing about gay men, and I have no idea why you are working so hard to try to make it seem like I did.

Regardless, thank you for keeping this kicked.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
17. I thought of you as a friend. I thought you'd get it. Instead you claimed what I said was not true.
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 11:33 AM
Apr 2013

A moment like this one is a good time for folks to meditate on these bans. Most straight folks do not know the bans exist. So pointing out that they do is important.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
19. I'm re-reading your posts. And mine. We misunderstand each other.
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 11:39 AM
Apr 2013

I was not trying to be critical of you or your post, but of the folks who don't let us donate. Your 'nope' was not about the ban, but about what you meant. I took it wrong. Now it all makes sense. The fault is my own.
Just want people to know about that ban.

redqueen

(115,096 posts)
20. I understand and I'm sorry...
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 11:54 AM
Apr 2013

I agree it is important that people know about those bans... I did misunderstand you, sorry.

Fla_Democrat

(2,545 posts)
12. Said and done.
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 10:34 AM
Apr 2013
http://www.scbcinfo.org/


Southeastern Community Blood Center, a division of Florida Blood Services, is a not-for-profit blood center serving the N. Florida and S. Georgia region. As our name suggests, community is our top priority.







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