panoptes@iquest.net wrote:
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:
>> But is there any reason Red Cross could not in their newspaper
>> advertisements seeking blood not state that 'homosexuals need not
>> apply', or any reason they could not state that in their posters they
>> put in the windows of every storefront in town? That way, a GLBT
>> person who read their _honest_ notice could simply walk on past,
>> rather than taking a cab to get there (this was before I had my
>> motorized chair), stopping in, getting humiliated by them and being
>> bribed with an offer of a free cookie and juice to keep quiet about it
>> afterward.]
> Probably the same reason their ads don't state "people with high blood
> pressure need not apply", "people with a low hematocrit need not
> apply", "people who have taken aspirin in the last 72 hours need not
> apply", "people who inject insulin for diabetes need not apply",
> "people who currently have a cold need not apply", "people who have
> donated blood recently need not apply", "people who have recently been
> vaccinated for smallpox need not apply", .... How large are those
> ads, anyway?
> When I donate, there are about forty to fifty questions like this, and
> I've actually been turned away for three of them. I keep track of
> this, because one of the questions involves prior deferrals, which
> they then check for the possibility of coming up again.
>> [And if you question my claim of Red Cross' homophobic bigotry, please
>> note they do _NOT_ automatically refuse to accept blood from
>> prostitutes or their patrons, nor from drug users/abusers, but only
>> from gay men, whom they ignorantly claim are 'promiscuous'. PAT]
> They automatically ASK about those. I don't know what their automatic
> deferral policies are (except that a "yes" answer to "have you ever
> been deferred" does not seem to mean an automatic deferral again).
> And I don't know how many of the people working at the blood bank
> actually know the reasons behind all the questions on the list.
They are working towards knowing their regular donors and having
their data on-line (some day).
But your first time you have to answer a lot of embarrasing questions.
they, "how much do you weigh?" me, "Naked!?", us, <laughing>
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But those other conditions you named,
i.e. high blood pressure, taking insulin, etc are all _medical_
conditions which could influence the health of the donor. A healthy
(i.e. no high blood pressure, no insulin, etc) homosexual does not
fall in that category; there are no _medical_ restrictions with
such a person. Now, granted, I am far from healthy, with high blood
pressure and all that, but that was not what the Red Cross lady
zeroed in on. Without examining my health at all, nor even claiming
to do so, it was my _sexual orientation_ which got me rejected.
PAT]
Rick Merrill (rick0.merrill@NOSPAM.gmail.com)