Banning Blood Drives as "Discriminatory"

Our colleges and universities are often hotbeds of political correctness, and not necessarily hotbeds of common sense. Such is the case at San Jose State where they've banned blood drives because they "discriminate" against gay men (h/t James Taranto):

The rise of AIDS in the 1980s prompted the FDA to prohibit donations from men who had sex with men any time after 1977. These days, groups such as the American Red Cross say that lifetime prohibition is excessive, since modern blood testing will catch any diseases contracted more than three weeks before the donation.

They've lobbied for years for officials to relax the restriction on blood donation to one year after the latest sexual activity, but to no avail.

Gay rights groups on several college campuses, including Stanford's, have held protests on the issue in recent years. At San Jose State, it was an employee's complaint last year that prompted [SJSU president Don] Kassing's office to investigate whether the rule made blood drives discriminatory.

They decided it did, since gay men were being treated differently than other groups of people with similar risk factors.

"What San Jose State has done is to take an institutional position based on principles, based on values," said Larry Carr, the university's associate vice president for public affairs.

So, who cares if a bunch of college kids give blood or not? The local blood bank, that's who:

Local blood banks say that position comes at a steep cost.

Blood drives on the San Jose campus bring in an estimated 1,000 pints a year, estimates Michele Hyndman of the Stanford Blood Center. In general, she said, high school and college campuses account for about 20 percent of all donated blood.

Let's not forget the reason for the ban on gay men. During the 80's and 90's a lot of people died because of tainted blood transfusions. When you're dealing with a potential for a long, painful and protracted death, more than a little caution is probably warrented. When my 3-year old son had to receive an emegency blood transfusion in 1994 it didn't bother me a bit that gay men were excluded from the donor pool. He's a healthy 16-year old today, and that might not be the case if the Red Cross had given in to political correctness and allowed gay men to donate. If I or a family member had to receive blood today, I'd still be glad for the ban. It has worked as intended and shouldn't be changed.

Perhaps when some San Jose State student dies because there wasn't enough blood available to save them the school will take another look at their "principles and values".