A 22-year-old straight man from Gary, Indiana has been prohibited from donating blood at a local blood and plasma center because, after undergoing routine screening procedures, was told that he “appeared to be a homosexual.”
Aaron Pace is admittedly and noticeably effeminate, but he says he’s not homosexual.
Still, his looks, character and behavior prompted a blood donation center to reject him when he tried to donate blood recently and he’s miffed, to say the least.
“I was humiliated and embarrassed,” said Pace, 22. of Gary. “It’s not right that homeless people can give blood but homosexuals can’t. And I’m not even a homosexual.” […]
During the interview screening process, Pace said he was told he could not be a blood donor there because he “appears to be a homosexual.”
The facility, Bio-Blood Components Inc., and donation centers like it, cite a Food and Drug Administration policy that forbids any man who has had sex with another man in the last 35 years from giving blood.
The FDA policy was imposed in 1985, amidst the early days of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Experts maintain the ban is out of step with advances in screening for HIV and other diseases.
