Well, this is awkward.
Gay Facebook users in Australia recently found themselves targeted with a sponsored post from the Australian Red Cross Blood Service featuring a gay couple and asking for blood donations.
The Facebook ad, which depicted two men in Christmas sweaters, said: “Whether or not you’re celebrating Christmas in July, you can give a lifesaving gift any time, because the need for blood doesn’t take a break.”
There’s just one teensy tiny problem: Currently in Australia, just like in the United States, gay and bisexual men are not allowed to donate blood if they’ve had any man-on-man sex in the last 12 months.
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“The gay couple featured in this ad aren’t allowed to give blood,” one person commented on the post.
“What a slap in the face of gay men everywhere by using an image suggestive of a gay couple only so we can be told we are ineligible,” another added.
“I’m too gay to donate unfortunately,” a third person said. “Otherwise I would’ve done so regularly.”
The person continued: “Even if I am in a monogamous relationship with a fellow HIV negative man and both on PrEP we still can’t donate. Let’s not pretend that 12 months abstinence isn’t homophobic here.”
But the comments didn’t stop there.
Another person quipped: “My blood is not acceptable enough, even though you clearly want and need more.”
“I have been with my partner for 6 years, we’re both perfectly healthy,” someone else said, “but due to your rules, we can’t save a life this way.”
The post received over 300 comments, eventually prompting moderators to respond by saying, “Facebook currently does not allow us to exclude specific groups from our advertising.”
Of course, that doesn’t explain why the ad showed a gay couple, who would be ineligible to donate blood, unless, of course, they were in a completely sexless relationship together.
When pressed about this, a spokesperson for the Australian Red Cross Blood Service implied the two men might not be a couple but were instead “former employees.”
Related: The FDA said he couldn’t give blood because he’s gay… so he donated a kidney in protest
Brian
Other than it being two men, is there something specific in the ad that suggests that they are a couple?
GageRoberts1268
Other than it being two men, is there something specific in the ad that suggests that they are a couple?….- You are really right But i am here not only to discuss article named Blood donation ad featuring same-sex couple has gay Facebook users scratching their heads but I AM LOOKING for NEW BF. My whatsapp number is 17732425635 . Drop me a line only if you are sngle and looking for love and pleasure..
GageRoberts1268
Other than it being two men, is there something….- You are really right But i am here not only to discuss this article but I AM LOOKING for NEW BoyFriend. My whatsapp number is 17732425635 . Drop me a line nly if you are single and looking for love and pleasure..
curiobi
Umm, mods are you going to do anything about this GageRoberts1268 this is beyond dodgy!
Will L
Brian, I agree. Two guys in the same picture doesn’t make them gay OR a couple.
Folks are just a little too touchy these days. For Pete’s sake.
GageRoberts1268
Other than it being two men, is there somethin….- I have nothing to add But i am here not only to discuss this article but I AM LOOKING for NEW Soulmate. My whatsapp number is ‘ 17732425635’ . Drop me a line nly if you are sngle and looking for love and pleasure..
sfmike64
Former employees of what? Do they mean former co-workers? Or is this sly new slang for fag?
SirDeca
In Germoney the same Situation … ads with gaymen or couple … but only if they had no sex since 12 month. Also not as tested, monogamous
….
but hey … we are good enough to spend money.
Oh the same with organdonation,.. result: no blood, no organ, no money!
Raphael
In Brazil gay man are not allowed to donate blood at all… and for straight people, they can’t have any tattoos or piercings, and should not have sleep with more than 3 different people in a period of 12 months. They make it nearly impossible to donate blood…
just me
Maybe the ad people are so “woke” that they forgot that the word homosexual contains the word sex…
JK 1984
I’ve been in a monogamous relationship for over 10 years, no STDs or blood borne diseases but I can’t give blood. Yet a straight male/female can screw around with multiple partners without trying themselves and they are good to go.
Recently a co-worker was trying to get as many of our office to give blood as they set up a collection centre at our office for the day. She wouldn’t believe me when I said I wouldn’t go with her as there was no point. Even once I showed her the criteria she said I should just lie about being gay and sexually active.
I told her if they won’t take my blood based on the truth, then I’m not going to lie about it.
DuMaurier
I can see why people are “scratching their heads”, but these are government policies, so I don’t see why there’d be anger at the Red Cross. The laws on donating blood vary quite a bit from country to country, and I think the Red Cross is generally supportive of liberalizing restrictions, with shorter deferral periods, etc.
Man About Town
I’ve never understood the abstinence-for-a-certain-period-of-time nonsense. What criteria do they use for proof? If I had sex 3 days ago but I walk in and say I haven’t in the last 12 months, what do they do next? Hook me up to a polygraph?
Joe Dalmas
“Even if I am in a monogamous relationship with a fellow HIV negative man and both on PrEP we still can’t donate. Let’s not pretend that 12 months abstinence isn’t homophobic here.” Why would you be on PrEP if you’re in a monogamous relationship with a man who’s HIV neg.? Oh, yeah… never mind.
Felecia
I have donated blood since 1983; and this stupid rule was added when people still thought that ONLY gay men could get and give someone AIDS. Yes, I know it’s politically-correct to call the disease HIV these days, but obviously the blood-banks aren’t aware -or don’t care- that ANYBODY can be infected, and this archaic rule is just simply ridiculous now. They test the blood before it goes anywhere near a patient’s veins; so this ‘guideline’ has ME scratching my head too, lol…and a LOT of blood-donors lie when asked this question. I have worked at a homeless shelter, and seen women that I KNOW make their money selling sex also selling plasma for cash…and no condom means they can charge more. Unfortunately, this has most of them going bare-back without any protection; and I didn’t see the Plasma Center make them prove they were untouched virgins, either. And whole blood is always in such short supply in large cities that a live human body with a pulse is good enough for a donation, never mind the donor’s personal history. The questions are given quickly; if you answer ‘no’ to the right ones, you’re in….so to me, this dumb rule DOES discriminate, since blood-banks and plasma centers aren’t turning away anyone else but gay males. Why hasn’t someone fixed this oversight yet; it aint 1985 any longer, ignorant rule-makers……
Felecia
Oops…forgot to mention that I am a lesbian, lol…yet I’ve dated bisexual girls who had multiple partners back in the 1980’s….just lucky that I avoided something nasty. The staff at the center knew this; and a few of the females even went and donated WITH me. Nobody blinked…we always got through the questions process, no problem…
rbernard
I used to donate blood regularly all the up to the mid 1980s when the ban on gay men from donating blood went into effect. I have been in a monogamous relationship for over 40 years and both of us are HIV negative. It seems so unfair, discriminatory, and arbitrary to exclude people like me from donating blood, when all donated blood is tested anyway for diseases before it is used. In the beginning of the crisis, the gay ban on donating blood made sense, but now, we know so much more on how to mitigate the risk of introducing contaminated blood in blood banks, this old rule is no longer medically meaningful and if anything, provides our naysayers another method in their tool chest to marginalize the gay community.