The internet media company Unilad has partnered with the ad agency Elvis to launch a new campaign aimed at allowing queer men to donate blood in defiance of UK policy.
Much as with the United States, the United Kingdom banned gay and bisexual men from donating blood during the hysteria of the AIDS crisis. Despite the disease coming under control and a shortage of blood types, both nations continue to bar gay and bisexual men from blood donation.
Related: Blood donation ad featuring same-sex couple has gay Facebook users scratching their heads
Unilad and Elvis now hope to affect change by opening an underground blood bank that will accept donations from gay/bi men. “The more we researched, the more we came to realize how few people knew about this,” says Elvis associate creative director James Hudson. “We decided that, just because the government won’t take this blood, doesn’t mean we can’t collect it to show that there’s millions of liters of life-saving blood going to waste.”
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Potential donors can now register online. This November 23, the blood bank will open in an undisclosed location, allowing donors to give blood without any kind of declaration of abstinence. Donors will instead undergo a risk assessment based on sexual behavior and sign a nondisclosure form designed to protect the blood bank from exposure. Blood will also be collected by technicians professionally trained in phlebotomy.
Here’s hoping we get a similar blood bank in the US in the near future.
andrewl
What a great idea and I hope this opens in Australia. The crazy thing is that I have heomachromatosis (sic) which means I retain too much iron and so I have to have blood taken regularly. There is nothing wrong with it and it could be donated but because I am a gay man it is tipped down the drain. While at the same time they are begging for blood donations. The Red Cross has to catch up with the times.
Bob LaBlah
This is how it should be and I stand with the decision not to let gay and bisexual men donate blood. It was reported two days ago that a new strain of HIV has been discovered and with promiscuity back to the pre-AIDS level its best to contain the new tsunami as early as possible.
mountainmaat
One step forward; two steps back.
Why not see a therapist about sexual repression and let the professionals work this out. ;D