Donation Not Discrimination
The Bloodmobile is coming to campus again this term to collect the donations from all the great volunteers that have signed up to give much needed blood to the NHS.
By Liam Davis
President
OUT UWE LGBTx
An open letter to the Students of UWE.
If you haven’t yet signed up to donate please do so.
If you do sign up, then on behalf of the Males of OUT UWE LGBTx I would like to say a great big thank you!
LGBTx (for those of you who don’t know) stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender.
So why am I saying thank-you? Well the reason is because we, as in the Men of OUT and other gay or bisexual men can’t donate blood. The blood service imposes a ban on males that have had sex with other males. (protected or otherwise)
This shocking antiquated, archaic policy stems from an age many years ago and it is something both OUT UWE and your National Union of Students strongly disagrees with.
Shockingly if you look at the posters around the Students’ Union, where you sign up, you notice that they don’t state that homosexual men are not permitted to donate.
The ban, which stands for a lifetime, is not like other groups whose donations are merely deferred for a set time period. This is because homosexual males are regarded at high risk of being diagnosed with HIV. However many regard the ban as archaic due to the fact that up until 1998, men who have sex with men formed the main exposure category for new HIV diagnoses. However, in 1999, heterosexually acquired HIV became the largest category, and has continued to be so ever since
Scott Pearce, Out’s Political and welfare rep, said:
" It’s really frustrating because lots of gay and bisexual students at our university want to give blood but can't because of the ban. It’s not someone’s sexual identity that makes them high risk, but their sexual practices. Heterosexual people who engage in high-risk behaviour are not banned, but deferred for a limited time; a blanket ban perpetuates the myth that HIV/AIDS is a gay disease, and does not treat donors equally and on the basis of actual risk. That's why we are here today encouraging our friends to donate in our place and talking to donors to raise awareness of the policy. Most people we have spoken to are really surprised that this kind of ban is still in place. We are calling for equal treatment for donors regardless of sexuality.”
OUT intend to be raising awareness of the NUS LGBT run campaign when the bloodmobile gets to campus on Monday 20th October. Please come down and show your support and sign the petition in order to ensure a review of the National Blood Service’ policy takes place, so that the behaviour of the individual is assessed rather than their membership of a group.
For more information on the national campaign, please visit NUSs website @
Thank-you for taking the time to read this.
Solidarity forever
Liam.
President OUT
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