AIDS and Sperm

The FDA wants to disallow men who have engaged in homosexual behavior from donating anonymously to sperm banks.

The FDA has rejected calls to scrap the provision, insisting that gay men collectively pose a higher-than-average risk of carrying the AIDS virus. Critics accuse the FDA of stigmatizing all gay men rather than adopting a screening process that focuses on high-risk sexual behavior by any would-be donor, gay or straight.

"Under these rules, a heterosexual man who had unprotected sex with HIV-positive prostitutes would be OK as a donor one year later, but a gay man in a monogamous, safe-sex relationship is not OK unless he's been celibate for five years," said Leland Traiman, director of a clinic in Alameda, California, that seeks gay sperm donors.
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"The part I find most offensive -- and a little frightening -- is that it isn't based on good science," Cathcart said. "There's a steadily increasing trend of heterosexual transmission of HIV, and yet the FDA still has this notion that you protect people by putting gay men out of the pool."

And that's the truth of it. This choice has little to do with science. HIV is increasingly being spread by heterosexual contact as well, and so this choice has everything to do with ideological behavior models [form a new phrase for the Robertson crew "Moral authority of sperm banks"] and little to do with a resonable restriction of at-risk behavior.

The obvious [moronically obvious] solution to the fear of AIDS in sperm donation should be similar to blood donors [though I doubt you'd have to restrict a man who has had his ear pierced within a year from donating]- an interview process screening for blood-disease-risk behaviour [which is unprotected non-monogomous behavior, but paired with even travel to foreign destinations that would pose a blood-disease risk] as well as actual, physical blood screenings. Clearly screenings are necessary. Which leaves certain questions about this initiative: what, exactly, is the screening process, and is it intrinsically homophobic or is it fair when it comes to at risk behavior? It certainly seems that, rather than purue this reasonable method of screening, they've chosen to simply cow to popular [and very conservative] biases and fears.

What a strange way to pursue your homophobic agenda...