Associated Press
03-04-07
Some student groups withdraw from blood drive after gay donations ban
AMES (AP) — Some student groups will not participate in an annual blood drive
this week at Iowa State University to protest federal rules that prevent some
gay men from donating.
Up to 500 blood donations are expected to be lost as a result of the decision by
Greek Week officials, said organizers of the Ames blood drive, the largest
student-run blood drive in Iowa.
The loss of that much blood comes at a time when Iowa blood banks are already
seeing supplies run short because of recent storm-related cancellations of blood
drives and fewer walk-in donors.
Student organizers had hoped to get 1,700 usable blood donations at next
week's drive.
The blood drive, scheduled to begin Monday and run through Friday, has in past
years awarded points to participating fraternities and sororities. The chapter with
the highest participation received a trophy, said ISU senior Kevin Newman of
Roselle, Ill., who is a member of Sigma Pi fraternity.
Organizers of Greek Week decided to stop awarding points for fraternities' and
sororities' participation in the blood drive.
Newman said removing support for the blood drive is the wrong way to make a
political statement.
``I think it's borderline disgusting,'' he said. ``We've chosen political correctness
over the well-being of people who are seriously injured.''
Members of Delta Lambda Phi, a year-old fraternity for gay and bisexual men,
complained that the federal rules would not allow them to take part in a Greek
Week competition, prompting the protest.
``The Greek Week council has done something remarkable that we in the
community have been trying to do — to raise the issue to the highest level of
public discourse,'' said Warren Blumenfeld, an ISU professor and Delta Lambda
Phi's faculty adviser. ``They should be applauded for that.''
U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules prohibit men who have had sex with
another man since 1977 from giving blood.
Gays at the university contend that the rule is outdated, because new ways to
test for HIV have emerged since the rule was launched.
The FDA says research shows that men who have had sex with men are 60
times more likely to be infected with the AIDS virus than the rest of the general
public.