I immediately told him no one would know he was gay and that that policy must have been scuttled years ago. He insisted it wasn't. To my surprise, he's right.

According to a CNN Health article from June 2010, The Federal Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability voted 9 to 6 against lifting the ban.

"The committee's decision today not only leaves a discriminatory practice in place, it also puts lives at risk," Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said at the time. "Not a single piece of scientific evidence supports the ban," protested Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

The CNN article goes on to note that blood agencies are losing out on over 219,000 pints of blood every year because of the ban. I always thought the American Red Cross was to blame but it turns out it’s the government, specifically the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. With updated testing methods the Red Cross would be happy to accept everyone but their arms are tied by the law.

It really upsets Drew, a healthy 30 year old who practices safe sex, that they just dismiss him out of hand. I think it really hurts him. I can’t imagine.

The policy, enacted in 1983, continues to discriminate. Even guys who aren’t gay, but who some people think "look gay” are being discriminated against. How can you tell by just looking that someone is gay?

Hereterosexuals get AIDS and HIV. Lesbians too. What is the problem? Gotta go, I need to send an email to a bureaucrat.