saviourseph | On the easing of the gay blood ban

As people may have heard, the UK’s ban on gay male blood has been lifted, as long as the donor hasn’t had gay sex (protected or otherwise) within the last ten years. Frankly, this is bullshit, but I hardly expect better from a homophobic society which still sees AIDS as “the gay disease”.

Plenty will no doubt be said on how this is a poor substitute for screening based on whether the donor has had unprotected sex of any description rather than on their choice of sexual partner. Instead I’ll focus on how this plays into the meme that gay men are either seen as eunuchs or whores; either we’re “good gays” i.e. the sexless sidekicks of the straights, useful for nothing except guiding our straight friends into having more fulfilling lives, or we’re the “bad gays” – dirty sex maniacs with no cares other than getting our ends away until we inevitably die of AIDS.

This conditional blood ban does nothing but enforce this; the good, sexless gays are deserving of the same treatment as straight people, but those of us who have the audacity to try and live our lives fully are still second-class citizens. Fuck that; no half measures.

Originally published at Jaffa Cakes and Sodomy. Please leave any comments there.