Local Blood Bank Weighs In On Whether Gays Should Be Allowed To Donate

Joe Laporta and Susan Cornell are blood related somehow.

Laporta is a dedicated blood donor. “I have given — in the last twelve years — five gallons. Pretty close to six!” he said, while sitting at the donor room of the Community Blood Bank.

Cornell, who found out that Monday is World Blood Donor Day, came by the blood bank to simply say thanks to Laporta and the other donors. In 2008, she was diagnosed with leukemia.

“It was pretty dire,” she said. “I even had a notary public come to the hospital to fill out some papers because they didn’t think I was going to make it.”

The blood bank’s director Nicu Cocione says they have enough blood right now, but the supply dwindles during the summer.

To make things shakier, the federal Department of Health and Human Services Committee on Friday upheld a 25-year-old ban on gay men donating.

The ban took effect in 1985. But, some gay rights groups have a problem with it. They say it is a form of discrimination because heterosexuals who have sex with someone who is HIV-positive are banned from donating for a year. Gay men, however, are banned forever.

Cocione says that ban should be changed. “We do support that ban to be reduced to a one-year deferral versus a lifelong deferral,” he said.

In fact, he says, two of the country’s largest blood organizations — the American Association of Blood Banks and the America’s Blood Centers — favor a one-year ban for all people who have sex with someone who is HIV-positive, regardless of their sexual orientation.

Joe Laporta says the ban is outdated. Current technology can detect the HIV-virus in a blood sample in as little as eleven days.

“We’re saving lives,” Laporta said. “The blood is all the same, you know?”

Cocione does not know what more can be done to change the federal committee’s mind. But, he hopes the policy changes soon so that everyone can celebrate World Blood Donor Day by next year.