GARY, Ind. (ABC News Radio) - Aaron Pace claims he is the victim of faulty “gaydar” and intends to sue for discrimination after he was not allowed to give blood because he appeared to be homosexual.
Pace, who is 22 and insists he is straight, was rejected from giving blood by Bio-Blood Components Inc. in Gary, Ind., earlier this month.
Federal guidelines forbid blood donations by gays. The regulations dates back to 1983 and the outbreak of AIDS and the virus associated with AIDS, HIV.
“I was humiliated,” Pace told ABC News. “This was my first time experiencing this.”
Pace said he filled out a questionnaire at Bio-Blood Components Inc. and sat through an interview with a staff member. When the interview was over, Pace was told he was not eligible to give blood and was turned away.
“She said ‘I’m sorry, but it’s the way that you act and appear to be. [It’s] your sexuality.’ And I said ‘because I’m what?’ and she said ‘because you’re gay,’” said Pace. He demanded to speak with the doctor on site who reiterated that he had been denied.
Pace said Monday that he plans to sue for sexual orientation discrimination.
Pace said he has an effeminate voice, and thinks that perhaps that was what caused the blood center to assume he was homosexual.
Bio-Blood Components Inc. did not return ABC News’ call requesting comment.
Blood donation sites across the country have been banned since 1983 from allowing gay men to donate blood due to a Food and Drug Administration regulation. The American Red Cross and other groups that supply donated blood have asked for a review of the regulation.
yeah, it was back 20-30 years ago when the govt thought all gay people had AIDS and wanted to stop the spread.
Also before they had good enough screening procedures to detect it in the blood… But now they do.
and they left the law in place.
Which the law was up for renewal last year I think… and they kept it in place, so obviously they don’t need blood that badly if they refuse the entire gay community.
I don’t know about lesbians though honestly. They’re probably okay, since everyone loves lesbians.
Although that does sound like a good lawsuit.
Gary, Indiana is a shithole. I drove through on my way to Chicago. I think it consistently ranks as the shittiest place to live year in and year out. Anyone else ever seen it?
The staggering numbers are the reason this law still exists.
Gay and bisexual men — referred to in CDC surveillance systems as men who have sex with men (MSM)1 — of all races continue to be the risk group most severely affected by HIV.
MSM account for nearly half of the more than one million people living with HIV in the U.S. (48%, or an estimated 532,000 total persons).
MSM account for more than half of all new HIV infections in the U.S. each year (53%, or an estimated 28,700 infections).
While CDC estimates that MSM account for just 4 percent of the U.S. male population aged 13 and older, the rate of new HIV diagnoses among MSM in the U.S. is more than 44 times that of other men (range: 522–989 per 100,000 MSM vs. 12 per 100,000 other men).
MSM are the only risk group in the U.S. in which new HIV infections are increasing. While new infections have declined among both heterosexuals and injection drug users, the annual number of new HIV infections among MSM has been steadily increasing since the early 1990s.
didn’t realize there was a law in place. Since there is then I’m going to side with the facility - you’re literally abiding by the law by playing it safe in trying to protect 268 million people. Without reading the full letter of the law I’m going to go on a limb and say that this is a simple judgement call.
This is all I could think of when I was reading this story, money on it the meth addicted white trash are more of a concern that any “gay” person that lives in or near Gary…
probabaly isnt helping the place get any better.