Tag Archives: gay blood
Coalition For Equal Marriage Film
A teaser video for viral advertisement to promote the Coalition for Equal Marriage and the cause of marriage equality in England and Wales has been released.
http://on.fb.me/k4ba00 to be part of the project.
We’re producing a commercial for the Coalition For Equal Marriage in the UK. Want to see what went on Behind The Scenes on the shoot? The film will be released later this month… stay tuned 
#Equalmarriage
Behind The Scenes Film by Leighton Cox: http://leightoncox.co.uk/
Music: Kopeika
Cast:
Soldier
Lew Smart
Boyfriend
James William Knight
Soldiers
TJ Resendes
Dom Buonaiuto
Richard Cousins
Extras
Jan Buonaiuto,
Olivia Buonaiuto
Rich Woods
Callum Beale
Pete Delos Trinos Newbold
Producer
Amber Phillips
Executive Producers
Conor Marron
James Lattimore
Stephen Pomeroy
Soundtrack
Craig Sutherland
Andy McDonald
Behind The Scenes
Leighton Cox
Photography
Ellie Rose Krnaston
Location
Valerie Mills
Brooklands Museum
Director
Mike Buonaiuto
![bookmark](http://www.tiredbees.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/blank.gif" height=){kind=small}
Possible end to blood ban on gay men in Israel
Shelly Yachimovich (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In Israel next month, a Health Ministry advisory committee on transfusion medicine will consider whether to amend the clause that forbids gay men donating blood, following a similar change here in Britain.
If the clause is changed, any man who last had same-sex intercourse 10 or more years ago will be able to donate blood. Currently, anyone wishing to donate blood must fill out a comprehensive questionnaire, which also lists, in red, a list of disqualifications.
These include various diseases, including having or being exposed to “mad cow disease”, various nerve disorders, drug use, and a positive HIV test. The clause disqualifying gay men says: “Having had male homosexual relations since 1977″ – the year AIDS was first diagnosed.
Both Magen David Adom’s National Blood Bank (MDA) and the Health Ministry say the clause is similar to ones found in many countries worldwide.
Discussions over the subject go back at least to 2004, when it was suggested the clause on the blood donation form would be rewritten to disqualify anyone who had engaged in unprotected same-sex intercourse during the previous six months (six months being the window of time during which HIV antibodies begin showing up in someone infected with AIDS via sex). However, nothing arose from this discussion, and the clause remained.
Last week, Israel’s Labour chairwoman MK Shelly Yachimovich, alongside the party’s gay members, wrote to MDA’S CEO Eli Bin and to Health Ministry director general, Doctor Roni Gamzu, asking that the clause be revoked.
Ms Yachimovich wrote:
“The question about sex between men, without asking the donor whether he had had unprotected sex, is a serious deficiency.
“Under such circumstances [unprotected sex], there is a significant risk of AIDS infection even among heterosexuals, yet the questionnaire doesn’t address this and creates the mistaken and dangerous impression that AIDS is a ‘homosexual disease.’”
via Pink News
Lifetime ban gay blood donation lifted today
Regulations banning the donation of blood by men who have ever had gay sex will be lifted from today.
The Department of Health announced the changes in September, implementing a one-year deferral period instead, so that men who have had gay sex in the last 12 months may still not donate blood.
The change comes into force in England, Wales and Scotland this week.
via Pink News
Gay men still banned!
The Department of Health today decided to end the lifetime ban on gay men donating blood which is a ‘step in the right direction’. However, the charity Stonewall still expresses concern that gay men engaged in low-risk sexual activity are still to be excluded from giving blood while heterosexuals engaged in higher risk activity will not.
via Stonewall
related to Gay blood donation ban expected to be lifted today!
Gay blood donation ban expected to be lifted today!
The lifetime ban on blood donation by men who have had sex with men is expected to be lifted in the UK later today.
Since the 1980s AIDS crisis, gay men have been banned from donating blood because of the risk of HIV contamination.
Although blood is screened for HIV and other infections prior to being given to donors, there is a ‘window period’ since infection during which time it is not always possible to detect the presence of HIV.
In April, there were reports that the government was to propose lifting the ban on gay men donating blood who had not had sex for 10 years. The measures expected today are anticipated to have a window period, but a much shorter one.
Gay men are prevented from donating blood in a number of countries. In New Zealand, they can donate so long as they have not had gay sex for ten years. South Africa allows gay men to donate blood with a six month deferral. In Australia, Sweden and Japan it is one year.
In the UK, other at-risk groups including those who have been sexually active in high-risk countries are banned from donating blood for one year.
At a meeting of the UK government’s Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SABTO) in January, it was argued that
“the evidence does not support the continuation of the ban… the evidence supports a 12-month deferral period since last occurrence be introduced for men who have had oral or anal sex with another man, whether a condom or other protective was used or not”.
The Terrance Higgins Trust, the UK’s largest HIV and sexual health charity states:
“We believe any decision on the safety of the blood supply must be based on evidence and not on political lobbying or framing of it as purely an equalities issue.”
via Pink News
Update – Gay men still banned!
e-petition: Remove the ban on gay blood donation
Responsible department: Department of Health
We the undersigned believe that the current blanket ban on MSM (Men who have had Sex with Men) donors is discriminatory and is based on out-dated prejudice rather than scientific evidence and that many gay and bisexual men would be low risk blood donors and remain an untapped resource that could be used to save lives. We call on the Government to remove the lifetime ban on MSM blood donors and to introduce new evidence-based criteria to assess the risk of individuals who wish to donate blood without a blanket ban on MSM donors, either permanently or for a deferral period.
US to look again at gay blood donation ban
The US Department of Health and Human Services is to look again at the lifetime blood donation ban for men who have had gay sex.
The department said yesterday that the current policy is “sub-optimal” and announced it has instructed advisors to study whether the strict rules can be relaxed.
A statement said:
“If the data indicate that a change is possible while protecting the blood supply, we will consider a change to the policy.”
Currently any man who has had sex with another man since 1977 is permanently barred from donating blood. The policy began after fears that allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood could raise the risk of HIV and hepatitis for blood transfusion patients.
Although all blood is tested before use, there is a small risk that new HIV infections may not be picked up. Gay rights groups and the Red Cross say that donor screening should be based on risky behaviour, rather than a blanket ban based of sexual orientation.
The HHS is to consider risk factors in current donors, how blood can be accidentally released without safety clearance, whether potential donors would comply with new rules and whether new screening criteria would assure blood safety.
The department added:
“It is anticipated that the described studies will yield data for reevaluation of the current deferral policy and potentially establish safety of blood collection from a subset of men who have sex with men or other currently deferred donors.”
Senator John Kerry has been pushing for a change to the policy.
He said:
“We’ve been working on this a long time in a serious way and I’m glad Secretary [Kathleen] Sebelius responded with concrete steps to finally remove this policy from the books
“HHS is doing their due diligence and we plan to stay focused on the end game – a safe blood supply and an end to this discriminatory ban.”
The UK has a similar ban, which is under review.
SaBTO, the advisory committee on the safety of blood, tissues, and organs, is expected to report its findings at some point this year.
via Pink News
Man says blood center rejected him because he appeared gay
Aaron Pace is admittedly and noticeably effeminate, but he says he’s not homosexual.
Still, his looks, character and behavior prompted a blood donation center to reject him when he tried to donate blood recently and he’s miffed, to say the least.
“I was humiliated and embarrassed,” said Pace, 22. of Gary. “It’s not right that homeless people can give blood but homosexuals can’t. And I’m not even a homosexual.”
Pace visited Bio-Blood Components Inc. in Gary, which pays for blood and plasma donations, up to $40 a visit. But during the interview screening process, Pace said he was told he could not be a blood donor there because he “appears to be a homosexual.”
No one at Bio-Blood returned calls seeking comment, but donation centers like it, and even the American Red Cross, are still citing a nearly 30-year-old federal policy to turn away gay men from donating.
The Food and Drug Administration policy, implemented in 1983, states that men who have had sex — even once — with another man (since 1977) are not allowed to donate blood.
The policy was sparked by concerns that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was tainting the blood supply. And, back then, screening tests to identify HIV-positive blood had not yet been developed.
Today, all donated blood is tested for HIV, as well as for hepatitis B and C, syphilis and other infectious diseases, before it can be released to hospitals. This is why gay activists, blood centers including the American Red Cross, and even some lawmakers now claim the lifetime ban is “medically and scientifically unwarranted.”
“It is unfair, outrageous and just plain stupid,” said Curt Ellis, former director of The Aliveness Project of Northwest Indiana, an agency that’s been educating the public about HIV-related issues for many years.
“The policy is based on the stigma associated with HIV that existed early on,” Ellis said. “It seems like some stigmas will just never die.”
The Indiana State Department of Health doesn’t have a policy regarding the collection of blood and its criteria. “Nor do we advise blood donation centers on their individual policies,” spokeswoman Amy Bukarica said.
But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last year voted again not to recommend a change to the FDA’s policy of a lifetime deferral for men who have sex with other men.
“The deferral of men who have had sex with other men is still in effect in Indiana and across the country — with all blood banks, not just the American Red Cross — because all blood banks must be in compliance with FDA regulations,” said Karen Kelley, spokeswoman for the American Red Cross.
“We recommended that the deferral criteria be modified and made comparable with criteria for other groups at increased risk for sexual transmission of transfusion-transmitted infections,” she added.
“While we are disappointed with the committee’s decision, our organization is obligated by law to follow the guidelines set forth by the FDA regarding donor eligibility,” Kelley said.
The American Red Cross, which supplies approximately 40 percent of the nation’s blood supply, determines a potential donor’s sexual history through standardized health and lifestyle questions in a private, confidential health history review, she said. This is similar to how other blood donation centers, such as Bio-Blood, screen potential donors.
Gay blood donation ban to be lifted…
The British government is to lift the ban on gay men giving blood, ruling that a blanket ban is discriminatory and could be in breach of the Equality Act.
However, lifting the ban will only apply to gay men who have not had sex for ten years prior to donating blood.
The Sunday Times reports that the change in the ban will be announced by Anne Milton, the public health minister, shortly.
While donated blood is screened for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, a small number of infected donations are missed due to the time between infection with HIV and it being detected in blood tests.
The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) found that a ban on gay men from giving blood if they had not had sex with another man for five years would increase the risk of blood supplies being contaminated by five per cent. Ministers were told that this risk would halve for men who had not had gay sex for ten years.
It is estimated that seven per cent of sexually active gay men donate blood despite the current ban.
Campaigners have long pointed out that many gay men are in monogamous relationships, practice safe sex or are celibate.
Around 86,500 people in the UK have HIV. According to the Terrence Higgins Trust, 42 per cent are gay men and 54 per cent are heterosexuals, the majority of whom are from Africa.
A government source told the newspaper: “A complete ban is unfair and discriminatory but we need to protect public health, so the ten-year rule is what is being considered.”
Gay men are prevented from donating blood in a number of countries. In New Zealand, they can donate so long as they have not had gay sex for ten years. South Africa allows gay men to donate blood with a five year deferral
SABTO also examined whether there should be a lifetime ban on heterosexuals who have had sex with someone who has had sex with anyone from a part of the world where HIV is widespread. It also examined whether the supply of blood for patients of Afro-Carribean origin should be considered.
via Pink News
Government to make announcement on gay blood donation
An announcement is expected in the “near future”
The government is to make an announcement on gay men donating blood “in the near future”, a health minister said today.
Health minister Anne Milton, responding to a Commons question, said the issue was currently under consideration.
Gay and bisexual men are barred from donating blood because of fears of HIV transmission. But critics say the ban is homophobic and based on stereotypes.
The issue was raised in the Commons by Tory MP Andrew Stephenson, who said that the National Blood Service was “crying out for new donors”.
Ms Milton responded:
“I understand that there has been a lot of concern that the rules are outdated, and we will make an announcement on the issue at some point in the near future.”
The government’s Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs began a review of the ban in 2009 and is expected to report its findings very shortly.
The coalition government published an LGBT policy document recently, although it has no mention of the issue.
However, prime minister David Cameron and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg are both on record stating their opposition to the ban.
Conservative gay group LGBTory announced last September that it would begin campaigning to end the ban.
Chairman Matthew Sephton said:
“The arbitrary blanket ban on men who have ever had sex with men giving blood is completely outdated and should go. What should replace it needs to be decided on the available medical evidence but the fact that it still exists as it does currently is nothing short of discrimination.“LGBTory has been campaigning vigorously on this issue and will continue to do so until the outright ban is overturned.”
via PinkNews.co.uk.
