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World National |
Irish gays press for right to give bloodSUMMARY: A HIV organization in Ireland has demanded that the country's ban on gays giving blood be lifted, slamming it as discriminatory. A HIV organization in Ireland has demanded that the country's ban on gays giving blood be lifted, slamming it as discriminatory.
The Blood Transfusion Service in Ireland claims, however, that they are operating under international standards, which advise that blood should not he accepted from homosexuals. The advice goes back to the 1980s when HIV and AIDS was seen as a gay virus. "There is an issue around the Blood Transfusion Service. It is probably one of the main areas where gay men are highlighted for different treatment. On the surface, it certainly looks like discrimination," Brian Sheehan of Gay HIV Strategies, a gay health and community promotion group, told the Irish Examiner. Deirdre Healy of the Blood Transfusion Service said the service operated according to international standards that recommend donations should not be accepted from gay men. Healy said: "We don't apologize for being discriminatory because if you have a cold sore we won't take you, as well as lots of other things. It's very rigid. We cut out a lot of people." Sheehan said the Blood Transfusion Service needs to look carefully at its category listings and redefine them. It doesn't, for example, take into account gay men who live in totally monogamous relationships. |
