Campaigns

DONATION, NOT DISCRIMINATION

The National Blood Service are the organisation who co-ordinate taking blood donations from the general population, and making them available for NHS patients who need transfusions. Currently their policy is not to accept donations from men who have had sex with other men, due to the increased rates of HIV. This is an ineffective way of screening for blood-borne viruses. Gay and bisexual men overall have a higher rate of HIV than heterosexuals, but high-risk behaviour, not being in a high risk group, increases risk of infection, and a blanket ban turns away perfectly good donations while accepting high-risk heterosexual donors.

The NBS’s refusal to allow gay men to donate reflects badly on the LGBT community, and reinforces old stereotypes about promiscuity and not taking proper precautions. Prejudice which is particularly dangerous in the hands of healthcare professionals, there to help us when we’re at our most vulnerable.

We need to fight this prejudice, and to get them to reconsider this policy. So this year, around the time the NBS are on campus, I’m going to be running a campaign to encourage people to sign our petitions, give blood on behalf of all the gay and bisexual men here who can’t, and raising awareness about the issue and about the stigma gay men face about HIV. I need your help on this. The NBS will be here on the 15th and 16th of October, and again on the 18th February, and I need people to come and campaign with me. Drop me an email if you want to get involved.

READ NUS 'DONATION NOT DISCRIMINATION' BRIEFING