It's Okay, I Didn't Want To Donate My Blood Anyway

Wanted to donate blood once, read the form, realized I couldn't. It made me mad. Still am.

AP: Banned for life: Gay men still can’t donate blood--
FDA wants to prevent HIV spread; Red Cross, others say it’s ‘unwarranted’

Gay men remain banned for life from donating blood, the government said Wednesday, leaving in place — for now — a 1983 prohibition meant to prevent the spread of HIV through transfusions.

The Food and Drug Administration reiterated its long-standing policy on its Web site Wednesday, more than a year after the Red Cross and two other blood groups criticized the policy as “medically and scientifically unwarranted.”...

Maybe in 1983 when HIV was new and people were still figuring out the facts, this made some sense. It's over 20 years later. You'd think some rationality would have returned to the issue, but this country has been a little slower on the learning curve in recent decades. And I trust the Red Cross more than I do the FDA, seeing as how the former hasn't recently been allowing tainted foods to poison people left and right these days (isn't deregulation fun?).

I'm a healthy guy who'd be happy to donate some day. Just let me know I'm un-blacklisted.