Adam the Alien

gaywrites:

Canada has lifted a policy that banned men who have sex with men (MSM) from donating blood, though certain restrictions still apply. 

Like the policy currently in place in the United States, Canada’s policy enforced a lifetime ban on donation by MSM as a way of “protecting” the blood supply from diseases like HIV that are associated with gay sex. Now, MSM will be able to donate as long as they haven’t had sex with another man in the last five years. 

“Recent scientific data and advances in transfusion safety led us to review the exclusion of men who have had sex with another man. This change is scientifically justified and will in no way endanger the high degree of safety of blood products,” Dr. Marc Germain, vice president of medical affairs at non-profit blood management organization Héma-Québec, said in a separate news release.

According to Héma-Québec, there is still the need for an exclusionary period, due to the fact that some groups are “at risk of infections that can be transmitted through transfusion.” The organization went on to say, “The frequency of HIV transmission among men who have had sex with other men (MSM) is still higher today than in the general population.” In 2011, approximately 46.7 percent of people living with HIV in the country were MSM.

This is a step in the right direction — and the U.S. should be taking note — but it’s not enough. The deferral period in Britain and Australia is one year; in South Africa, it’s six months. Hopefully one day we’ll realize that this is a policy rooted in ignorant stereotypes, and we’ll abolish it entirely. 

It’s ridiculous, in this day and age, that there are different policies for homosexual vs. heterosexual blood donation at all. Nobody in their right mind, who’s able to look at the world around them, believes HIV is a “gay disease” anymore. HIV can be found in people of all types of sexuality and gender. If anyone’s going to restrict blood donations based on sexual activity, the question shouldn’t be whether or not a man has had sex with a man in the last whatever number of years…the question should be, “Have you had unprotected sex with anyone in the last ____ years?” With a possible exception for long-term partners. Because it’s that “unprotected” part that tends to lead to a higher frequency in MSM situations, not the gender or orientation of the people having the sex.

I can understand wanting to be safe with blood donations. My uncle contracted HIV from a blood transfusion back in the early 90’s. But singling out men having sex with men as a higher risk does nobody any favors. Especially since it leads to the assumption that people who don’t fall into that category are automatically safer, when they’re really not. This way of thinking isn’t just discriminatory, it’s downright dangerous.

gaywrites:

They’re baaaaack!

One Million Moms, the anti-gay group comprised of far fewer than a million people, has found a new target for its attacks: Walt Disney World’s unofficial tradition of “Gay Days.” The group is calling on people to email Disney’s CEO in protest.

“The first Saturday in June, homosexuals, bisexuals and transvestites will be at the Magic Kingdom with an agenda and purpose different than what would be expected at Disney,” members of the group write on their website. “Homosexuals will be celebrating the 23rd anniversary of Gay Day wearing matching Gay Day merchandise, such as T-shirts. There will also be transvestites dressed in drag showing their support for the event.”

Urging visitors to send an email to Disney’s CEO and other officials, the post continues, “Disney has been irresponsible for far too long. Disney representatives and security need to maintain a family-friendly atmosphere and require proper conduct and dress code on a daily basis.”

Oh, just shut up already. You’re not going to win. 

Aside from One Million Moms being jerks about this, here are some reasons Disney will not cave:

• This event makes Disney money.
• This is an unofficial event. Disney didn’t initiate it, nor do they sponsor it. Their park serves as the location, nothing more. Interfering makes as much sense, to them, as interfering with a large family reunion in one of their parks.
• Again, this event makes Disney money.
• If Disney says, “You can’t wear a shirt indicating your pride, or dress in a manner we feel goes against the gender you were born as,” they will experience monumental bad press. It would be like them telling people, “No, you can’t wear that shirt that says, ‘Proud to be black.’” Or, to make it relevant to One Million Moms, “No, you can’t wear that cross necklace.” So much bad press. Disney’s not gonna risk that.
• Did I mention that this event makes Disney money?

gaywrites:

Families are changing, and a huge majority of Americans are okay with it.

A new study by uSamp and Oxygen Media found that 87% of Americans “believe the definition of a traditional family has evolved” and another 55% say there’s no such thing as a “traditional” family, among other key statistics. 

The study noted that many social changes are becoming more acceptable to the general population than they were 10 years ago, including:

• Adopting a child from a different race than your own (87 percent)
• Interracial families (87 percent)
• Stay-at-home fathers (86 percent)
• Same-sex marriage (85 percent)
• Single-parent homes (84 percent)
• Same-sex adoption (83 percent)
• More people believe same-sex couples can be great parents (79 percent), women are taking on traditionally male roles today (88 percent), men take on traditionally female roles (76 percent), and even a single father can act as a mom (78 percent).

Additionally, Americans today are seeing the benefits of mixing families, whether it’s race, biology or sexual orientation, and 94 percent think mixed families (those with both biological and adoptive children) are becoming more common. Children from interracial families are exposed to more culture (51 percent) and are thus more accepting of other races and ethnicities (65 percent). Furthermore, 79 percent of adults think that same-sex couples can be great parents and can give their children the same opportunities and love to their children (73 percent) as heterosexual couples. 

Times are changing, and it’s for the better. All families are important. I’m glad we’re starting to realize it. 

gaywrites:

A group of LGBT and allied Roman Catholics were barred from entering a New York cathedral under threat of arrest after engaging in a peaceful, if slightly unconventional protest as a response to a cardinal’s recent anti-gay remarks. 

Both police and an administrator at the cathedral denied entry to members of the group because they had “dirty hands,” writes Joseph Amodeo in a first-person account at The Huffington Post,as they had deliberately soiled their hands with ash in response to a recent statement by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, that LGBT people were welcome in the Catholic Church as long as they washed their hands. Amodeo’s group was met near the cathedral by several police officers who warned them against going in, and then met at the cathedral by an operations manager who said if Amodeo and his companions entered, they would be charged with criminal trespassing.

“I remember standing there thinking, ‘How can I be charged with criminal trespassing in my own home?’” Amodeo writes. “It was then that I realized what it meant to be spiritually homeless. This realization was particularly difficult for me in light of the private meeting that I had with Cardinal Dolan on November 27, 2012, at his office in Manhattan. It was during that meeting that he expressed such love and welcome that I find his subsequent ‘conditional welcome’ to be difficult to understand.”

We have a lot of work to do in making everyone feel included in what are supposed to be accepting spaces.