Blood donation question that wasn't answered in the health section...?

Why do they ask you if you are a man who has had sex with a man since 1977? Does this mean that if you're a man and you had sex with another man in 1976, you can donate?

Why don't they ask if you are a woman who has had sex with a woman?

It can't have anything to do with AIDS because anyone can have/get AIDS and they test the blood before using it anyway.

1) the test for aids in donated blood does not detect if a person is infected but is below a certain viral load limit. therefore blood which is HIV infected can still get into the system
2) gay men ( men who have sex with men) and intravenous drug abusers who share needles are still ( according to the CDC as of 2007) the groups with the highest statistical risk of HIV infection in North America.( at a rate of 4.6 times the rate of exclusively heterosexual males)
3) lesbians have the lowest statistical rate of HIV infection in North America.
4) 1977 is the date that a certain " patient zero" brought the infection to North america according to epidemilogical findings.

hope this helps.

They also ask if you have traveled abroad in the last year or so. I'm sure that question is based on AIDS/HIV. I completely agree with you that it is biased and discriminatory. They should test all blood the same regardless of gender, orientation, race, or whatever....
.
And as a lesbian to a gay man...I would accept your blood or anyone else if it has been thoroughly screened

It is to do with AIDS.

There was no known cases of HIV before 1977. So as long as you've not had sex with a man since then, you can donate.

Gay men have a higher risk for getting HIV, because of anal sex. I think the whole system is prejudiced though. Many gay men don't even have anal sex, and they won't let you donate if you've only had oral sex, which has practically NO risk of HIV infection. And loads of straight people have anal sex too.

Another rule is that if you're a woman who's had sex with a man who's had sex with a man, you can't donate. Ugh. I wish they would change the rules.

--They also ask if to have had sex with someone other that your wife .. they are trying to keep others from getting sick ... If your aim is to help others just answer the question correct.
--Has nothing to do with being gay , but with having sex with someone that could get you sick.

For some reason it is their impression that AIDS are mostly spread through male homosexual sex. They should erase that though because it isn't true, whats the difference from a heterosexual male with AIDS and a homosexual male with AIDS?! Never got it either.

i totally agree.. now that i think about it. i actually never tought of those questions..Lol.. good one :)