Common Sense: Discriminate? That's not OK with me

Do you support discrimination against homosexuals, or not? This was the central question of the resolution recently passed by the Student Senate on Red Cross blood drives at UNH. The Student Senate, sadly, chose to continue to support discrimination.

It's no secret that the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) policy is discriminatory. No man who has had sex with another man, even once, since 1977 may donate blood. Every major blood collection service in the country opposes these guidelines. Except one, of course. The Red Cross.

Other organizations still follow the FDA guidelines, because the government demands it. But at least they've taken a stand against discrimination. All the sponsors of the resolution wanted was for blood drives at UNH to be run by an organization that opposes discrimination. It's not really too much to ask. If the Red Cross was banned, we could still give blood as we stood up for everyone in the University community.

Maybe you don't see what's so discriminatory about the policy. We do need to protect the blood supply from HIV-infected blood, don't we? Well, sure. All donated blood is tested for HIV. Every pint. The Red Cross maintains, "testing the blood for HIV alone is not sufficient because of the 'window period'." This window period refers to the time frame, which can be as long as 45 days between when an individual has been infected with a virus and when the virus actually can be detected in blood tests."

This makes sense to me. I'd even extend that window to 60 days. If the rule said everybody had to wait 60 days after the last time they had sex to give blood, I'd be happy. But the rules don't say that. If I'm a man who's never had sex with a man, and I have sex with 60 different women in 60 days, I'm still allowed to give blood. If I'm a woman who had sex with 60 different men in the last 60 days, I'm allowed to give blood. But if I'm a man who had sex with a man once, because I was curious, because I was drunk or even because I was raped at any time in the past 28 years, I can't give blood. Even though every pint is tested. I'm out of luck.

Can you see how crazy this policy is? If the "window period" was one year, 10 years or 30 years, this policy might make some sense. But since we know that the window closes in less than two months, why don't we let men donate blood who haven't had sex with a man in two months?

Everybody knows that this policy has nothing to do with science and everything to do with discrimination and fear. The government doesn't want to change the policy because they don't want to be seen as "promoting" homosexuality. I'm sure they also worry that if the policy is changed, people will be afraid that if they go to a hospital and get a blood transfusion, they'll get AIDS. While there would almost certainly be a political backlash, that's not a good enough reason to discriminate.

Discrimination against homosexuals is wrong. Homosexuals and bisexuals are human beings and who a person is attracted to and has sex with has nothing to do with what diseases might be in their blood. Anyone can get infected with HIV through sexual contact. Gay men are simply no more or less likely to get infected than anyone else.

UNH needs to do more to stand up for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered among us. I admire the leaders in the Student Senate who have taken the initiative this year to do more. But it still isn't enough. When I see someone wearing a T-shirt that reads, "Gay? OK with me," it makes me sad. Because the message is that there's something wrong with being gay, but I accept you anyway. Acceptance and tolerance simply don't go far enough. Because acceptance and tolerance still imply a pejorative. "You're bad, but I will accept you," doesn't go far enough.

I affirm the lives of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered members of our community. It's good that you're who you are. It's good that you have sex with the people you have sex with. It's good that you exist. Until we're all ready to affirm every member of our community, our community is sick. The Red Cross is wrong. The FDA is wrong. And our Student Senate is wrong.

But to those who are willing to fight the unpopular fight toward a real community of affirmation at UNH, you are right. Please don't stop fighting.