Hidden Prejudice

The FDA has gotten sneaky. They say one thing but really mean another. Ooh! They’ve turned into full-fledged politicians. That can’t be good.

And it’s not good today, when the FDA is asking for something outrageous: that men who have had gay sex in the last 5 years be banned from donating to a sperm bank. They claim it’s because the risk of AIDS runs higher in this group.

But current guidelines bar heterosexual men who have had unprotected sex with an HIV-positive prostitute from donating for 1 year.

Double standard? Of course! But the real secret is something the FDA will never say: “We don’t want gay men reproducing because if it is hereditary, that might make more gay men. Politics doesn’t like gay men.”

The closest they come to honesty is an FDA document quoted by CNN: “The FDA is very much aware that strict exclusion policies eliminate some safe donors.”

Leland Traiman, the head of a donor clinic in Alameda, CA, offers what appears to be a safe and non-biased alternative: conduct HIV testing upon donation and again 6 months later before using the sperm. Ah! But that would not be sneaky. And we can’t be having that. Not if we’re in politics.