BDSM & Alternative Lifestyle Personals
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What's inside is not allowed...
8/11/2008 11:06 pm |
In the past, when I was in college and in the Army, I was a consistent blood donor. I am type O negative, which is relatively rare. I liked the feeling of giving, of helping someone who I would never meet. There was also some pride involved, not being scared of needles like so many are. When I donated, I would run through the list of questions and not even have to think about them--no no no, no diseases, no suspect behaviors, no nothing. I was clean, always had been. Just perfunctory questions, then I would get stuck and get my cookie and juice, and be on my way. The local hospital has been running PSAs lately looking for blood donors, especially O-negative. I hadn't done it in years, so I figured I would get back into the habit. I made an appointment, and went in this evening. I sat down with the questionnaire, and---uh oh. "Have you received a body piercing within the last 12 months?" Well, not like they meant... but I have had needles stuck through my chest, connected to rubber bands, and pulled on. And it was great. I left the question blank until the nurse came back. Okay. A few more, and then: "If you are male, have you had sexual contact with another male, even if only once, between 1977 and the present?" Hm. Well, how do they define sexual contact? Left that one blank, too. I though that I could probably second-guess the questions, and put down the answers I knew they needed to hear. But I'm consciously working on cultivating more honesty in my statements and my actions, and this was a pretty clear-cut opportunity to do so. I told the nurse that I had been pierced within the last few months. By a professional? (Because they are looking for sterile technique having been used.) No, not by a professional--the guy's not a piercing artist by trade, he's a computer programmer. His technique was scrupulously sterile, but... So I was denied on that count. For twelve months from the date of the piercing. I didn't tell the nurse that I fully intend to be and am looking forward to being pierced again (because it totally ROCKED!). I also asked about sexual contact with another male. Basically penetration and oral sex; and he almost sheepishly told me that they are working to revise the donation rules, to narrow that "1977 to present" down to something that more accurately reflects the current state of research into HIV/AIDS, and doesn't just ban everyone. But that's in the future sometime, maybe. My contact hasn't included penetration or oral (but I'm not ruling it out). So that wouldn't have kept me from donating today. But the piercing took care of that. So, in the years intervening between the last time I donated blood and today, my life has changed a lot, and some of those changes have made it so that I am no longer a candidate to donate blood. I left feeling good about my choice to be honest, but also really disappointed, and a little sad. This was just a little unexpected. I guess this lifestyle is a door you go through, and you can't necessarily expect to always be welcome on the other side of it afterward. |
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8/12/2008 4:24 am |
They did not figure in bdsm into their rules, and they do not trust that someone without a piece of paper can be sterile. They also have been known many times to break their own sterile technique, but oh well, they have a piece of paper. Their intentions to screen the blood are good though. I used to donate, and I don't anymore. It has to do with the med I am on. Tis ok. There are more people who are younger and can donate. It is good though to see that you are incorporating courage to be honest in the face of disappointment. That takes strength. Peace, Light, Love
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8/28/2008 10:08 am |
So sex with males from 77 to now? Hummmm every heterosexual woman who had sex with a male in that time frame can not donate blood? i know for a fact they can. How very odd a rule to assign to men only and not to females ... who says gay men do not at times have sex with women, how about bi men? Are these the men they are afraid of infecting other men so sex with them automatically puts you in the unacceptable list? They can infect women just as easy, and how about cheating in the closet husbands who have sex with men, women or prostitutes? Again high risk behaviors and they have sex with their wives and those women do not even know they are at risk. They will soon have to disqualify everyone but the avowed celibate clergy, and holy people ... oh wait some of them are pedophiles and closet gays etc. Hummmm, where do "they" go with this? i am sorry for your disappointment Lover, being true to ones nature and honesty at times gives us a view of the world and life that is not very pretty or tolerant...
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1/5/2009 8:42 pm |
Mmmmm needles in your chest... 
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