You want to talk about political correctness regarding homosexuals run amok. Consider this. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) held hearings last week on proposed alterations to the existing standards regarding blood donors. In 1983, the FDA banned any man who had sex with another man (since 1977 forward) from donating blood. Why? Because men who have sex with men are 60 times more likely to be infected with HIV/AIDs. That rate of infection remains the same today.
But pressure from gay rights groups and from the current U.S. administration had been brought to bear on the FDA and on the Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability (AVBSA). So the AVBSA held hearings to see if they should subject the average citizen to substantially greater risk of contracting HIV/AIDs or hepatitis during a blood transfusion. In effect, that’s what the hearing was about…to determine if safety for a patient desperately needing a blood transfusion was more important than homosexual men feeling accepted.
In testimony before the committee, Peter Sprigg of Family Resource Council explained the problem: “[T]he blood donation policy doesn’t exist to serve socio-political purposes, nor should it be changed to advance them.”
Fortunately, safety and common sense prevailed during the hearing and the policy prohibiting higher-risk blood entering the country’s blood bank system still stands. The committee voted 9-6 to keep the ban in place.