I spent the morning mooching around listening to the news. I then cycled to the pool for a swim. As I swam I pondered on the news that homosexual and bisexual men who have not had sex for at least a year can now donate blood. I would have thought that the number of individuals falling into that category are a minority. As exciting as the opportunity to now give blood after all these years might be, I think I'd prefer to cling on to those rare opportunities for excitement of a more carnal nature. Honestly, wouldn't you?
You now have the potential scenario where, as Ben Summerskill of Stonewall said, "A gay man in a monogamous relationship who has only had oral sex will still automatically be unable to give blood but a heterosexual man who has had multiple partners and not worn a condom will not be questioned about his behaviour, or even then, excluded." To me that sounds dangerous and discriminatory.
How then can Sir Nick Partridge, chief executive of the Terence Higgins Trust, say that these new rules are, "necessary, fair and reasonable"?
No comments:
Post a Comment