A step backwards into history, and support towards discrimination.
This is just a quick blog as I'm just arriving home from school and am starving so I need to eat.
But upon my arrival home, I found mail from MSI on my desk. It's time to renew my health card. It's ironic that this came today, a mere week after a discussion in my sociology class last week.
I believe it was Cooley's Looking Glass Theory that we were talking about; where members of society tend to view themselves the way others do, much like a looking glass. One of my fellow class mates brought up the fact that homosexual males are not allowed to donate blood in Canada. I was quick to add to that fact, that they're not allowed to be organ donors either. Despite that all blood and organs are screened before being given to a recipient, donors are still asked if they are male, and if they've participated in anal sex with another male during the past 5 years. If they answer yes to both questions, they are not allowed to donate.
It was at the end of the class that the topic resurfaced and another classmate made a very valid point. She could be a straight woman, but one who makes a living as a prostitute. She could have had sex with 100's of men, men who she doesn't know the sexual past of. But someone else, a gay man, may have had sex with only 2 partners, maybe even one. Men who he DOES know the sexual past of. Yet she's allowed to give blood and he's not.
It makes me really think about the ethics that this country sometimes has. I'm not inviting a big ethical debate here either, I'm just voicing my opinion. It makes me wonder that if it's not worth the "risk" maybe they're not screening it as well as they should be. I sit and wonder, maybe one day I'll need a kidney transplant. Maybe I'll know someone who's a perfect match for me. If that person's a gay man, does that mean I'll have to wait for another match? What if I didn't have the time to wait? And not to mention, shouldn't the screening process be thorough enough to detect any potential viruses? Don't you take a risk anyways when getting a transplant? Your body isn't necessarily going to accept a foreign organ.
And it's with these thoughts that I sit here with my health card renewal form in front of me, hesitating about renewing my organ donation, something I've felt so proud to have on my card before, but now feels like a black mark; a step backwards into history, and support towards discrimination.
Then again, homosexual males shouldn't be discriminated against, but people in need of a donor shouldn't suffer from another person's ignorance.
But upon my arrival home, I found mail from MSI on my desk. It's time to renew my health card. It's ironic that this came today, a mere week after a discussion in my sociology class last week.
I believe it was Cooley's Looking Glass Theory that we were talking about; where members of society tend to view themselves the way others do, much like a looking glass. One of my fellow class mates brought up the fact that homosexual males are not allowed to donate blood in Canada. I was quick to add to that fact, that they're not allowed to be organ donors either. Despite that all blood and organs are screened before being given to a recipient, donors are still asked if they are male, and if they've participated in anal sex with another male during the past 5 years. If they answer yes to both questions, they are not allowed to donate.
It was at the end of the class that the topic resurfaced and another classmate made a very valid point. She could be a straight woman, but one who makes a living as a prostitute. She could have had sex with 100's of men, men who she doesn't know the sexual past of. But someone else, a gay man, may have had sex with only 2 partners, maybe even one. Men who he DOES know the sexual past of. Yet she's allowed to give blood and he's not.
It makes me really think about the ethics that this country sometimes has. I'm not inviting a big ethical debate here either, I'm just voicing my opinion. It makes me wonder that if it's not worth the "risk" maybe they're not screening it as well as they should be. I sit and wonder, maybe one day I'll need a kidney transplant. Maybe I'll know someone who's a perfect match for me. If that person's a gay man, does that mean I'll have to wait for another match? What if I didn't have the time to wait? And not to mention, shouldn't the screening process be thorough enough to detect any potential viruses? Don't you take a risk anyways when getting a transplant? Your body isn't necessarily going to accept a foreign organ.
And it's with these thoughts that I sit here with my health card renewal form in front of me, hesitating about renewing my organ donation, something I've felt so proud to have on my card before, but now feels like a black mark; a step backwards into history, and support towards discrimination.
Then again, homosexual males shouldn't be discriminated against, but people in need of a donor shouldn't suffer from another person's ignorance.
posted by Fern Wimpley @ 9:47 PM
4 Comments:
At 9:05 AM,
João Encarnação said…
You like sharks, u like Jack Johnson... you pretty much have my attention! :P ahah **
At 9:24 AM,
Anonymous said…
I wonder how many people who wait years for a transplant would say no, if they were told there was a match from a gay man. It's a matter of life and death for many. And, if they feel they cannot screen gay man's organs throughly enough to detect disease, then they obviously cannot detect disease well enough for anyone to be safe. Risk is risk, no matter what the sexual orientation. Good for you for voicing your thoughts.
At 1:37 PM,
Jody said…
This world is a backwards place stace, not just our country. I'm in full agreement.
At 9:27 AM,
Thegirl said…
Well written, FErn.
Post a Comment
<< Home