HIV/AIDS Misunderstood
It’s 2015 and quite frankly I don’t know why this regulation is still in place. The fact that homosexual men can’t donate blood because they’re seen as a “higher risk” of blood contamination simply due to the fact that they are attracted to other men is outdated and homophobic. According to NBC News, a gay man with a perfectly clean bill of health is considered more of a threat to the blood supply than a straight man who has been treated for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, venereal warts and genetal herpes within the last year.
This is absolutely unacceptable. People in the LGBTQ community are already oppressed in this society, and then when they try to do a good deed in spite of this inequality they are turned away and labeled as “dangerous”. Ever since the 1980s when AIDS was first discovered and researched, it has been labeled a “gay disease”. In fact, when the AIDS virus was beginning to be publicized in the media, over ⅔ of American’s believed it was god’s revenge on gay people.
This begs the question that, with all of our modern medical and technological advancement since then, why are gay people still blamed and discriminated against for the disease when we know it affects everyone?
My theory: homophobia. Because the disease initially affected gay men, it was immediately named a “gay thing” by the heterosexual majority in an attempt to pretend it couldn’t affect them. Little did they know that this disease can be transferred between anyone and today is spread fastest through heterosexual intercorse.
By this logic, because AIDS is a widespread and deadly issue all over Africa, we should ban African Americans for donating blood too, right? Wrong. Because someone is of African origin doesn’t mean they are any more susceptible to the disease, just like someone being gay doesn’t make them more susceptible.
As I said before, it’s 2015. Being gay shouldn’t limit you from doing selfless deeds to befit a society that, in spite of your kindness and generosity, still treats out like a subhuman second class citizen.
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Ryan Hart, senior, is the Arts & Leisure section editor and has been on staff since second semester sophomore year. He enjoys running cross country...
