[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.
panoptes@iquest.net