Bryan Fischer
November 6, 2007
Gay men still banned from giving blood
By Bryan Fischer

Concern for public health is reason alone not to grant special rights on the basis of non-normative sexual behavior. As Congress considers the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which will force employers to hire open homosexuals or face crippling federal lawsuits, it's an important consideration.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still bans men who have had sex with other men (MSM), even one time since 1977, from donating blood. This is for the simple reason that homosexuals as a group are at increased risk for HIV, hepatitis B and other infections that can be transmitted by infusion.

Since the FDA is charged with protecting the nation's blood supply and the health of blood recipients, it cannot afford politically correct nostrums, especially since there are 20 million blood transfusions every year.

The FDA has concluded that not even engaging in protected homosexual sex or having a low number of lifetime partners reduces the risk enough to make a difference.

Even the European Union, which couldn't find a place for the mention of Christianity in its constitution, bans homosexuals from donating blood for the same reasons.

According to the FDA, which, by the way, is not a right-wing think tank, men who have had sex with men since 1977 have a risk of contracting HIV that is 60 times higher than the general population. Further, homosexuals are about 5-6 times more likely to be infected with the Hepatitis B virus than the general population.

These are staggering and alarming numbers, and make the objective observer wonder why anyone — especially Congress — would go out of its way to provide special workplace rights to those who engage in dangerous behavior that threatens the health of the American people.

The FDA will not allow intravenous drug users to give blood, because they have rates of HIV and other dangerous viruses that are much higher than the general population. Prostitutes are likewise banned from donating blood, for the same reason.

Despite the old media's relentless attempts to convince us that everyone is at equal risk for HIV/AIDS, the FDA says this simply isn't so. The "overall rate of HIV infection (among young heterosexual women) remains much lower than in men who have sex with other men."

The FDA will only reconsider its policy on the basis of "scientific data" that shows that a change would not present a "significant" risk to recipients. But, says the FDA's website, "Scientific evidence has not yet been provided to FDA that shows that blood donated by MSM ... is as safe as blood from currently accepted donors."

The bottom line is that homosexual sex is as risky to health as intravenous drug use and prostitution. This raises the question: Would the Congress require business owners to hire druggies and hookers?

© Bryan Fischer

 

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