Blood Donation: A White Lie To Save A Life.

It's something that's only come to my attention recently, but would you hide your sexuality to donate blood?

I've always known that gay people or 'men who have sex with men' as it's called, were unable to donate blood, here in Ireland anyway, so I never thought much more about it. I always thought that was it, end of. That is until however, my friend told me that he hides his sexuality in order to donate blood and it got me thinking. Is this a good idea? Is what he's doing wrong? In my opinion, no, I don't think what he's doing is wrong. Perhaps I'm just biased I don't know. He goes for regular blood & STI testing therefore he knows he's in the clear, so why shouldn't he donate his clean, healthy blood? I mean after all, he could be part of a rare blood group, such as AB- , and his blood may be the much needed type to save a person's life. So how can anyone tell him to stop? Would you tell someone about what he's doing?

I do see the argument. There is a higher risk of HIV & AIDS in homosexual men, however recent statistics show that both the diseases are highly increasing in heterosexuals alike. See the article by Irish Health. What I don't get is, if you're a heterosexual and you go in to donate blood, your blood is tested for these diseases and many other diseases anyway. It's protocol. So why can't gay people donate blood and their blood be tested too? Is it really that much more of a nuisance?

As I said, it's just something that has come to my attention lately and has piqued my own interest in giving blood, especially knowing I don't carry any life-threatening illnesses. What if my white lie about my own sexuality could save someone's mother, father or child? Would you take the risk? Would you decline someone's blood just because they were gay?

Please comment below as I'm interested to hear other people's opinions on the matter.