<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by wharvey:
I actually miss giving blood.... had given religiously every two months since I was in high school.
But all that changed when I answered the questionnaire that I was gay.
Wonder if they will ever change that rule.</font>
Don't hold your breath. The Salvation Army, which is terribly concerned about everyone's health (sarcasm), continually votes against allowing gays to donate essentially because it doesn't mesh with their religious agenda.
Unfortunately, they'd prefer to see people die for lack of blood rather than have anything to do with gays.
There are some campaigns out there to boycott blood drives for this reason. That's a whole separate discussion, but the basic idea is that bringing the issue to the forefront now and getting the rule changed will save more lives in the future than waiting another 50 years for the Red Cross and others to stop being so bigoted. If these people were really concerned about screening out bad blood, they'd look at the statistics and make some serious changes.
Sorry for the rant, but I think it's an important topic.
d
(edited for typo)
[This message has been edited by Doppy (edited 02-09-2003).]