Blood Donations by Gay Men

So there's been a bit of a big thing recently about the FDA deciding whether or not gay men (or, as the form says, men who have "had sex with another man, even once, since 1977") will be allowed to give blood. As of right now, they're not allowed to. This measure was initiated at the start of the AIDS epidemic in an effort to prevent spread of the disease. However, since that time, there have been significant advances in technology which allows the blood banks to determine if the blood is safe for use or not in a fairly short time period. Thus why does the resistriction remain? It almost seems to be a social block against the GLBT community—and gay men in particular; a retention of old stereotypes.

Interestingly, while the FDA has chosen to uphold the restriction, it is the blood banks (such as the Red Cross) which are requesting the restriction be lifted and arguing most stridently against its continued restriction.

If you're interested, here's a link for an article on the issue from Time:
Ban Kept for Gay Men Donating Blood

Quite a Headline

How's this for a headline:

Cheney's Lesbian Daughter Has Son

Interesting, because the emphasis is more on the fact that Mary Cheney is a lesbian than on the fact that she just had a baby.

And really, when you think about it, don't most births just get announced in the "Births" section of the paper, rather than getting a whole article written about their birth? This must be one special baby. Geez.

FOUND

So I discovered this great website this evening that kind of reminds me of Postsecret…only a little different. It's called FOUND Magazine. Basically, people just submit strange little things they find in random places (often notes, or drawings, or pictures) and the editors put them together in a magazine.

More pertinant to this particular blog, FOUND also has a companion website, DIRTY FOUND, which has all of the found things that are "too dirty for FOUND."

Another Post Secret

I liked this one because of it's insinuation of inequality between heterosexual and homosexual couples. Even though we feel as though we're treating everyone with the same degree of respect, we aren't always. It's the little things we do that give away our true feelings and attitudes.

And I'm only slightly in love with Post Secret, I swear. :)

So I'm thinking I should post something that's not Post Secret soon, huh? That might get to be a copyright issue if I don't. Well, as I'm currently out of the country, in New Zealand, I will be posting things that are related mostly to Oceania, unless CNN gives me something good!

More Post Secret

I'm feeling a little lazy, so sorry I don't have anything else to put up.

Post Secret

Like any number of people out there, I am addicted to Post Secret. Each week, I faithfully check the Post Secret website to see what new secrets have been revealed. I realized while I was looking at them this week that quite a lot of the secrets have to do with sex and sexuality. Here's a quick sampling of some from this week: