Victory: Thailand Blood Ban Overturned!

Just a few days ago the Red Cross of Thailand banned blood from gay and bisexual men. Queers United sent out an action alert. Activism does make the difference because the headline today from the AFP states:

The Red Cross of Thailand said Friday that it would change its screening process for blood donors to address concerns from activists who said the system discriminated against gays.

Gay-rights activists had complained that one question, which was meant to target people more likely to have diseases transmitted by sex and drugs, had effectively blocked all gay men from donating by only asking about same-sex relations.

The Red Cross will rework the form to include more questions about all types of sexual behaviour, gay or heterosexual, that could increase the risk of diseases such as AIDS, she said.

Tell Thai Red Cross New Gay Blood Ban is Wrong and that "Gay Blood Saves Lives"

Thailand which has typically been progressive and culturally tolerant to their large transsexual minority, and even somewhat understanding of their homosexual citizens has backtracked today on sexual minority rights.

The Thailand Red Cross has announced that it will no longer accept blood from men who have sex with men, citing the high levels of HIV/AIDS in the gay community.

All blood should be tested regardless of what a person does or says, and to single out a whole group of people based on a statistic is wrong. The fact is millions of heterosexuals have HIV, no other racial, religious, or community based group would dare be singled out for fear of the organization being labeled insensitive and discriminatory.

Please contact the Thailand Red Cross to let them know that gay blood saves lives and to renege on this new policy, tell them testing is very effective today and there are other measures to try and scan out those with possible disease. Questions such as "do you engage with multiple sexual partners?", or "have you had unprotected sex within the last 6 months?", " have you used needles for drug exchange" are all proper ways to identify high risk groups without singling out based on sexual orientation.

National Blood Center:
Email: blood@redcross.or.th
Phone: 0-2252-4106-9

1871 Henry Dunant Road
Patumwan, Bangkok 10330

Thai Red Cross Administration:
1871 4th floor
Terdprakiat Building
Rama IV Road, Patumwan
Bangkok 10330