Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

Has anyone actually read the list of exclusions/restrictions for giving blood?

14:14 / 12.01.03

I was pondering doing a good deed, and giving blood. As it turns out, what with all the meds I'm on, I probably can't. However, some of the other exclusions/restrictions are fucking unbelievable. Check out this and this.

14:20 / 12.01.03

So if you're a (non-virgin) gay man you can't give blood?

It doesn't actually define what "having sex" means there, does it?

14:27 / 12.01.03

Not as far as I can tell. The whole thing makes me very...grrr.

14:32 / 12.01.03

I seem to remember there being quite a furore in the gay press about this, ooh, a year or so ago. Some bloke said, on the letters page of 'Gay Times', that he'd lied about his sexuality (he was gay but monogamous and had recently tested HIV-negative) in order to donate blood. Some executive fairly high up within the Blood Transfusion Service responded by calling him, amongst other things, "evil" (he was later forced to retract this but continued to justify the BTS's general position).

14:43 / 12.01.03

Hm. If you'd had tests for STDs... why would you still be banned?

Oh, yeah, you'd be giving gay blood, that's right. Someone might walk out of an operation and immediately buy the Judy Garland back catalogue.

14:48 / 12.01.03

Perhaps they don't want 'bad blood' and they're mixing up the non-related meanings of 'gay'?

15:01 / 12.01.03

fridge: Oh, yeah, you'd be giving gay blood, that's right. Someone might walk out of an operation and immediately buy the Judy Garland back catalogue.

Yeah, that's pretty much the only reason I could come up with, too - fears of some sort of blood-borne gay gene getting spread around and queering up the place. Of course, it's only gay male blood they're worried about - dyke blood is fine. After all, it's not like us dykes have proper sex or anything.

15:27 / 12.01.03

No, you're just playing around. It's not sex unless there's willies involved.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

17:12 / 12.01.03

That's part of the reason I don't currently give blood. Admittedly the more important (to me) reasons are my needle phobia and not being arsed to find the blood transfusion place near me to do it.

In such a situation I would quite happily lie to them. Just make sure I didn't walk into the place hand-in-hand with my boyfriend. It's only when they bring in the mandatory ID cards that they'd find out my secret.

Warewullf up North

18:22 / 12.01.03

Same deal in Ireland. Funniest thing is, their latest ad campaign has the slogan: "They need blood, not excuses." and I thought, "yeah, exactly!"

18:32 / 12.01.03

You should not give blood for 12 months after sex with:

1 A man who has had sex with another man (if you're a female)

But see! The blood-borne gay gene wears off after 12 months, but can be transmitted inter-genderally. And anyone else notice that even with condom's it's not safe sex, because a condom is no protection from the wrath of God.

Still, at least you can't get poor and liberal by blood any more. I guess that must just have been a kooky theory. Unluike the gay thing. That's totally not a kooky theory at all.

22:36 / 12.01.03

I'm diabetic. I take insulin. I've always been told I can't give blood (although a quick scan of the links above doesn't say this). I'd always assumed that the Blood Transfusion Service were the only people in the world who thought diabetes was infectious!

01:25 / 13.01.03

Back when I was at college, there was an on campus blood drive by the red cross which was protested for the restriction against gays. Someone made stickers: "Be nice to me, I wanted to donate blood today but wasn't allowed."

Does it mention anywhere in the eligibility guidelines if a person shouldn't donate if they've had unprotected heterosexual intercourse in (insert time frame here)? If it does, I can't find it.

Also, from the American Red Cross site: "You are not eligible to donate if, since 1980, you :
Spent a total time of 3 months or more in any of these countries: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Channel Islands or Spent a total time of 6 months or more in any combination of these countries: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Azores, Belarus, Belgium, Boznia/Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Channel Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Island, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland (Republic of), Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madeira Islands, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands (Holland), Northern Ireland, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Scotland, Slovak Republic (Slovakia), Slovenia, Spain, Svalbard, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Vatican City, Wales, Yugoslavia (includes Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia)" because of Mad Cow disease.

Not only are you not allowed to be gay, you're not allowed to be from Europe.

The Return Of Rothkoid

02:11 / 13.01.03

I'm pretty sure the European restriction applies here in Australia, too: the risk of mad cow disease was what was cited, I think...

...which, if I'd had my damn eyes open, is precisely what the previous post says. Gah.

02:13 / 13.01.03

its obviously just that gay blood is that one shade too pink.

what if like me you are straight, but a total slut, and 'open to experimentation'? and do we know it doesn't matter if i bang a corpse? what if i was having sex with a hermaphrodite?

i cant give blood anyway, i am only alllowed to give plasma. this i was told after the clumsy nurse had stabbed my arm at least four times, missing on every one including the last i am sure.

the reason?
i had had malaria.
not even been in its neck of the woods, but actually had it. had it a few times, and (i think, although i have to take my mums word for it) almost died of it.
something i put on the form, mentioned specifically, and something on their list.

02:15 / 13.01.03

yeah, when i was in oz i remember hearing tht. anyone born in britain was basically forbidden, and anyone who had been ther recently.

what are they going to do when they only have this current generation of 20somethings for stocks? almost all of them go overseas...

02:27 / 13.01.03

That's only the straight male and female 20 somethings that haven't been tattooed or pierced in twelve months. I predict that one day, Amish people will be kidnapped and exsanguinated, bodies dumped.

10:37 / 13.01.03

I'm diabetic. I take insulin. I've always been told I can't give blood

Same here.

I think it's fair enough actually, since there's a fair chance that at any given time a diabetic's blood sugar could be above/below the correct level.

15:17 / 13.01.03

Perhaps they don't want 'bad blood' and they're mixing up the non-related meanings of 'gay'?

So it will not only infect them with a new appreciation of leather and taffida, but might make their legs fall off too? Well damn it all if they think they're giving me any blood the next time I'm in the hospital. I'll not end up being buggered in a wheelchair for the rest of my life!

15:47 / 13.01.03

I can't give blood either, cause I had mono when I was 17. But once I did anyway before I knew that. I hope I haven't been spreading it all around... but it's not that bad, anyway.

20:30 / 13.01.03

Interestingly, I was recently rejected because I am not on medication -- for Graves' disease (hyperthyroidism) despite the fact that the reason for this is that my symptoms were considered too mild to require any treatment. According to the nurse who rejected me, if I get on medication, then they will accept me. The symptom in question? Tachycardia. You'd think it would be easy enough to determine whether my heartbeat were irrelugar at the time of donation.

21:39 / 13.01.03

Er, is anyone here actually allowed to give blood, then?

I'm not sure. I only skimmed it, but I'm sure I fail somewhere.

The Return Of Rothkoid

21:55 / 13.01.03

I predict that one day, Amish people will be kidnapped and exsanguinated, bodies dumped.

One day? I thought that was Wednesdays?

22:51 / 13.01.03

Wednesday? Bah. Sunday. Round em up on the Sabbath.

I'll be allowed to give blood about a month from now, one year post tattooing. However, the one time I donated blood, I came to the unpleasant discovery that I was apparently using it.

18:51 / 14.01.03

You have ever received payment for sex with money or drugs.

I've never had sex with money, though I might have gotten a little amourous with some of my drugs in the past. Does oral sex with your drugs count? I certainly swallowed...

19:05 / 14.01.03

You can't give blood in America, Fridge, what with being from the land of Mad Cow Disease.

I however can and do give blood often. It's quite nice. Relaxes me, gives the old body a chance to make some new blood, and hey, boozing it up that night is always killer.

03:06 / 15.01.03

I have cancer and they won't let me give blood. Now, mind you, I've been in remission for over ten years, haven't shown a single symptom of relapse, but because I have to take Synthroid to replace the hormones that I can't produce because of cancer, my blood is no good. How come this crap running through my veins is good enough for me, but not for anybody else? So, fred, even if you get your Graves' disease treated, odds are they still don't want your blood.

10:20 / 15.01.03

You have ever received payment for sex with money or drugs.

So if someone paid you for sex with, say, cashew nuts, that would be ok?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

10:30 / 15.01.03

yeeesss... It all starts out very reasonable, like. And yes, if I was anywhere that wasn't the UK I'd be dubious, because of cjd.

It just gets nastier and nastier though, doesn't it?

So "even sex with a condom" is worse with gay men (who could well be monogamous) than between a man and a woman (even if both are highly promiscuous)?

And how do you know if someone's indulged in these Mail-baiting activities in the previous 12 months? If they're irresponsible enough to pass on such a nasty disease without warning if they know they're at risk, then why tust 'em to be honest?

I guess, once again, the desire to be careful and for risk management has led to a standstill of rational argument.

And, as Rizla points out, the paid sex argument is simply for shit. Say I get paid once for sex, I'm less likely to be a decent donor than someone who just shags around repeatedly because they enjoy it?

I mean, I understand the medical argument for not taking ANY RISKS WHATSOEVER... but they don't seem to apply this paranoia across the board. Rendering it less than useless.