It’s not an usual occurrence for St. Mary’s Hospital to visit campus in a Bloodmobile to collect blood from student donors. However one policy concerning blood donation has been under scrutiny in the past few years. Since the ‘80’s and the height of the AIDS epidemic during the pre-screening process prevented donations form a man who admitted to having sexual intercourse with another man. He was permanently deferred from donating blood. Now the gay community is voicing its opinion on the policy.  They claim the policy is outdated, that times have changed, and so has the gay community. Reform is being called for and it has found its way in some countries but not in the U.S.

“The custom on blood supply is to always error on the side of caution,” said Tracy Morrow, a phlebotomy technician at St. Mary’s Hospital. (“It’s better than lobotomy just remember that,” Morrow said with a giggle.) Not only is she a blood analyst she is also a lesbian, so she knows both sides of the issue from personal experience.

“The reform is coming, change takes a long time,” Morrow said. The original policy was created to prevent potential recipients from receiving contaminated blood. “Back in the 80’s people could show no symptoms, show a negative test and still turn out to be positive” Morrow said.  The AIDS epidemic hit America by storm. The medical world was flabbergasted. They had no idea how the virus was spread. Testing was inaccurate. Morrow remembers being at party in the 80’s drinking wine with friends, including several gay men.  In the midst of the party guest had mixed up their wine glasses. Every one continued to drink until they made a realization.

“We thought ‘Oh my God did we just expose ourselves to HIV?” Morrow said. “I mean we had no idea how it was spread.” HIV cannot be contracted from saliva, but the threat was nonetheless real. No one knew why people were dying.

“It was a scary time,” Morrow said.

As with many policies, individual hospitals don’t establish the criteria to qualify as a donor.

“The FDA makes all the rules. It’s not us discriminating” Morrow said. “The people that made the rules remember how scary it was. The government, in this case, is here to protect people.”

Today the changes are being made and society knows more than it did 20 years ago about HIV and AIDS.

“Testing now is so much better than it was 20 years ago,” Morrow said. It is now known that HIV is passed from contact between blood and blood or semen/vaginal fluids and blood (HIV can not be passed through saliva, mucus, or tears) which allows the ability to make informed decisions to help prevent the virus from spreading.  It also broke the stigma that only gay men are susceptible to AIDS, when in fact heterosexuals and lesbians can contract it as well.

“The issue shouldn’t be sexual orientation,” Morrow said “It should be what kind of sexual behavior and whether or not protection was used.”

There are other criteria that prevent people from donating such as traveling to certain foreign countries, recent tattoos or piercing, and other risks that may harm either the recipient or donor.  Reform of the policies is not unheard of.

“Cancer also used to be a permanent deferral,” Morrow said. When cancer was first identified very little was known about it, much like HIV and AIDS, but after further testing the FDA was able to aptly change the policy.

“Now a person can donate if they are two years cancer free,” Morrow said.

Like HIV and AIDS more is know about cancer to be able to manage the risks so likewise it is likely the policy of gay men donating blood will also be re-evaluated.

Gay men have even moved down from their place as a high risk group for contracting HIV, and according to Morrow they have been replaced by heterosexual young adults.

“We love the lesbian blood,” Morrow said. Lesbians are one of the lowest risk groups to contract HIV which makes them preferable donors.

“The future of our blood supply depends solely on young people willing to donate,” Morrow said.

One never knows when they or someone near them may need a blood transfusion, but one solid fact is that donating blood saves lives.

“We treat every unit as if it was going to one of our loved ones,” Morrow said.