OT- Banned4Life Project

The Banned4Life Project
www.banned4life.org

Even the Red Cross doesn't believe that a lifetime ban on blood donation for gay men is warranted, but the FDA refuses to look at the facts.

My best friend from middle school is gay and HIV+. He obviously should be banned from giving blood until we find a cure, but not every gay man is at high risk of HIV+, it's all about behavior and a more complex and accurate set of questions should determine deferral length or ban. Monogamous homosexual men are considered by the FDA to be a higher risk than heterosexual men who regularly engages in unprotected sex with multiple prostitutes.

The risks you take and the threat that you pose should determine your ability to donate DESPERATELY needed blood.

As someone who might need blood one day, it scares me that stereotypes will determine the quality of blood that I get, instead of the actual risk.

The petition:
Banned for Life- Causes
https://www.causes.com/posts/833577
http://bit.ly/B4Lpetition

Steve

Welcome

This is a joint blog by myself (Melissa), and my husband (Steve). I was recently diagnosed with EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome). EDS is a painful genetic disorder with no cure and no treatment. EDS symptoms are treated, but not the underlying cause. If you want details about EDS, go to the EDS wikipedia page (surprisingly great resource), there's no reason for us to regurgitate those easily available facts.

My husband has his own blog, IP kills, that he started in early September 2013. His blog focuses on intractable pain and the negative effects on your social life, emotional wellbeing, and family. He suffers from intractable pain due to an inoperable brainstem tumor. He also suffers from several other conditions, but this blog isn't about him, or at least not his health, so I'll leave it at that for now.

We both recommend that anyone dealing with a painful condition read Dr. Forest Tennant's Intractable Pain Patients' Handbook for Survival.
bit.ly/PainGuidePDF

We haven't setup an email address for this blog get, so (for now) any feedback can be sent to:
IntractablePainKills@gmail.com

Mel (& Steve)