Homosexuals Banned From Donating Blood, Protests Soared Online to Protect Equality

[NetEase] College student Li, Yu (李玉）was in an uncomfortable situation last week while completing her registration form for blood donation — she lost her right to donate blood as a result of her honesty regarding her sexuality. As such, Yu signed her name on an online petition to encourage the government to eliminate the existing discriminating terms against homosexual people in the blood donation regulations.

During the interview, Yu, 20 years old, stated, "I don’t understand the purpose of this (banning homosexuals from donating blood). I think this is a discrimination against all homosexuals." Yu is a lesbian, who truthfully identified her sexuality during her blood donation registration process, and received a rejection from the health center staff for the same reason.

Both Yu and Liu, Mei (刘梅), also a lesbian in Guangzhou, China, has signed the petition online asking the government to eliminate the decimating terms in the current regulation to protect gay rights. Mei mentioned that at least 540 lesbians have signed the petition, and it is their goal to collect 1,000 signatures. Mei said, "I hope the government can eliminate the discriminations against homosexual people, accept and respect our kind wills in blood donation."

Shi, Wei-wei (史唯唯), Vice Chief at Beijing Red Cross Blood Study Center, stated the decision to ban them [homosexual people] from donation blood is largely based on the safety issue. Ms. Shi added, "We all know that there is a much higher chance of HIV/AIDS infection among people who are homosexual and/or is addicted to drugs."

Zhang, Beichuan, a famous scholar of homosexual studies in China, suggested to update and to better refine the languages in the current regulation. He said, "The term ‘homosexuality’ should be updated with ‘male homosexual people who are active in sex’." He stated that male homosexual and bisexual people stand a much higher chance, 50 times higher, in carrying and/or getting infected by the HIV/AIDS disease. In consideration for the blood transmit safety, it is understandable that the government banned this particular group from donating blood. Mr. Zhang further clarified, "This [banning male homosexual or bisexual people who are active in sex] is also consistent with the international standard. It needs to be noted that female homosexual people carry a much lower chance in carrying and/or getting infected by HIV/AIDS disease. They should have the same right and equality in blood donation."

Tags: Discrimination, Gay, Human Rights, Same Sex Marriage

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 30th, 2009 at 10:23 pm and is filed under Life Style. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.