The BBC is runnning a story about Irish hospitals cancelling non-emergency operations. Apparently new restrictions on who can give blood mean that the Irish Blood Transfusion Service is getting fewer donations. Here’s an idea. Stop being so fucking homophobic. No, the new regulations are nothing to do with homosexuality. But they find a huge number of new donors by removing this from their safety rules:
Never give blood if:
- …
- You are a male who has ever had anal or oral sex with another male, even if a condom or other form of protection was used.
- …
Note that that same list doesn’t mention anything about having had unprotected sex with a person with HIV in the last fifteen minutes. As long as you’re not both men it’s fine, I guess. Actually, I’m pretty sure they do have a rule about that somewhere, but it says that you shouldn’t give blood for one year afterwards.
So yeah, long story short, I’m pretty disgusted with the IBTS. And I have been since the first time I gave blood. But here’s something to ponder: I still give blood. Why? Because it’s not the dumbasses running the service that really matter. It’s the people in hospital who will die if they don’t get some blood. I’m not going to sit on the sidelines making idealogical arguments when people’s lives are on the line. I’m not Damon Albarn.