October 25, 2007
Gay blood discrimination outdated
On Thursday, October 25, students from UM team up to play MSU in the “Blood Battle.” Many students may not realize that what seems like an altruistic, campus-unifying event, may be the largest overt act of discrimination that could occur within a university setting. For example, when an academic institution endorses a blood drive, a minority of students are discriminated against due to homophobic, and heterosexist societal attitudes towards men who have sex with men.
This discrimination was born out of a 1982 recommendation to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban individuals at high risk for contracting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from donating blood. At this time, there was not a way to screen blood for the presence of HIV; therefore, screening out donors within high risk populations became the accepted way to protect the blood supply. This screening process lead to an exclusion criteria which states, “[if you] are a male who has had sexual contact with another male, even once, since 1977” you cannot donate blood. Flash forward 25 years and you will find the same exclusion criteria; although, the demographics of who’s at high risk for contracting HIV have changed, along with advances in the blood-screening processes.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), women make up over a quarter of all new HIV diagnosis in the United States. Specifically, “black women account for the majority of new cases of HIV and AIDS among women in the United States,” and “nearly 80 percent of [these] cases involve heterosexual contact.” Research conducted by the CDC has indicated that African American women comprise the racial population with the largest increase in HIV infection. According to Dennis H. Osmond, PhD, “The largest proportional increase [in HIV cases] has occurred in cases attributed to heterosexual transmission — from 5% in 1983 to 28% in 2001.” After reviewing the research on current trends in epidemiology, it’s clear that men who have sex with men are not the only individuals at risk for acquiring HIV. It would be foolish to overlook, or simply not mention, the fact new cases of HIV are increasing among men who have sex with men, but the bottom line is that this population is not the only population at risk!
It’s time we ask ourselves whether excluding men who have sex with men is really increasing (or decreasing, in the case of not updating the criteria) the chances of contaminating the blood supply; furthermore, what would be the consequences of altering the exclusion criteria?
If the exclusion criteria were based on current research evidence, which highlights important risk factors for HIV-infection, it is possible that an even greater number of individuals would no longer be eligible to donate blood. Some of those individuals would be men, or women, who have had recent unprotected sex with individual(s) of unknown HIV status. Although these criteria would still focus on excluding high-risk individuals, it would not discriminate against a minority of individuals who have engaged in safe sex, and who regularly get tested. Although this change would end discrimination against men who have sex with men, and practice safe sex, it would perhaps exclude large number of individuals from donating blood, blood which will be screened, and most likely prove viable. On one end of the scale, we have the potential to reduce discrimination in our society, while increasing the defenses of the blood supply, and on the other side, we have the potential to greatly reduce the number viable of blood donations that come from high-risk populations that presently aren’t accounted for by the FDA’s exclusion criteria.
For many college students across the nation, the scale is leaning heavily toward adjusting the policy, thereby further protecting the blood supply, and reducing discrimination. Institutions of higher education have the responsibility to see diversity flourish and discrimination perish. One way to fulfill your responsibility is to inform your university and elected officials of your dissent for acts of discrimination to occur on our campus. Finally, I am in no way stating that UM students should not participate in the “Blood Battle,” in fact I would encourage every student at UM to attend. The only request is that you answer each question honestly. If you’re told you cannot donate please, politely, let one of the volunteers know how it feels to be discriminated against. I would encourage you to then let your university officials know how you feel attending an institution that actively promotes discrimination against its students.
Nick Heck
Graduate Student, Clinical Psychology
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