Gay Activists Intentionally Taint Blood Supply

(South Africa) This story is disturbing.

From the Independent Online:

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance (GLA) yesterday declared war on the South African National Blood Service (SANBS), as scores of its members turned up to donate blood under false pretences.

And, a shocking 65 percent of the gay men who donated blood without disclosing their sexual preference are unsure whether they are HIV- positive.

On Friday, about 300 men complied with a plea by the GLA to its claimed 100 000 male members to donate blood to SANBS centres across the country, but not to disclose their sexual orientation.

The request is a part of an ongoing national campaign to protest the SANBS policy of excluding men who engage in sexual activity with other men from donating blood.

David Baxter, media director for GLA, said on Friday that 65 percent of the members of GLA who had donated blood were unsure whether they were HIV-positive. He later said one of the donors had full-blown Aids.

Someone should be prosecuted, pure and simple. Afterward, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance (GLA) should be sued into bankruptcy. Tainting the blood supply should not be viewed as a prank.


[Update 01/22/06]

A week has transpired since South African homosexuals declared war on the nation's blood supply and largely nothing has happened except talk.

From Independent Online:

The South African Blood Service (SANBS) said on Friday it still considers a gay and lesbian organisation's claim that some of its members donated blood without disclosing their sexual status a threat.

This week SANBS publicity manager Gail Nothard said: "It hasn't been confirmed, so we still have to consider it a threat unless we know for absolutely sure. We can't disregard it as a hoax. We would never disregard a claim that we can't confirm."

On the other side, David Baxter of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance said, in a somewhat watered-down followup to last week's statement, that "some members who may have been HIV positive had donated blood to SANBS centres across the country." Previously, he said that one donor even had full-blown AIDS. Also,

Baxter said he would continue to urge the organisation's members to donate blood without disclosing their sexual orientation until the SANBS change a donor questionnaire question which asks whether or not the male donor has engaged in sex with another man or men in the last five years.

Consequently, it appears that the homosexual community has issues with the screening questionnaire more than anything else. Simply put, they're protesting a piece of paper.

I sincerely must be the only person that sees this as an act of terror, or at least extortion, against the health care system in South Africa. As such, somebody should be arrested. I don't see any difference between the threat to taint the blood supply of a nation and the threat to release a cloud of sarin gas in a crowded subway system.

And for what? Adding potentially HIV-infected blood to the system provides no benefits, only more risk. Not only that, but this is all happening in a part of the continent that already has an HIV/AIDS epidemic. Even considering the political aspects of the situation, it seems clear that the South Africans need some adult leadership.