Turned away for seeming too gay

A 22-year-old heterosexual man was turned away from donating blood at a blood bank in Gary, Indiana, because staff would not believe he was straight.

Bio-Blood Components Inc told Aaron Pace he could not be a donor because he “appears to be a hom

osexual”.

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules, developed before there were blood tests for HIV, state that no male who has had sex one or more times with another male since 1977 may donate blood.

Blood donors in the United States are often paid. Bio-Blood Components Inc was offering $40 per visit.

“I was humiliated and embarrassed,” Pace said. “It’s not right that homeless people can give blood but homosexuals can’t — and I’m not even a homosexual!”

The US Department of Health and Human Services last year voted against recommending a change to the FDA’s lifetime ban on men who have sex with other men donating despite a growing global trend towards filtering donors based on actual sexual behaviours rather than sexual orientation.