ban was passed in December 2007 which disallows most gay men from
donating organs. The ban prohibits hepatitis victims, intravenous
drug users, and sexually active gay men from giving their organs.
This ban is “scientifically unjustified, virtually unenforceable,
and could worsen critical transplant shortages,” a well-known
Toronto AIDS doctor says. This ban is rather backwards, isn’t it?
It is entirely unfair to gay men who practice safe sex and it’s
an ignorant ban for putting the blanket of blame on gay men. What
the ban should address, and clearly doesn’t, is that risky sexual
behavior can lead to HIV. It’s not necessarily gay sex that leads
to HIV and it’s not necessarily heterosexual sex that leads to
HIV—it’s about how safely it is done. This ban disheartens me a
tad because I thought, at this point, we all knew it was common
knowledge that gay sex wasn’t what caused the spread of HIV.
Dr. Philip Berger, head of family and community medicine at St.
Michael’s Hospital, says this ban is unfair to thousands of
conscientious gay men. To me, it’s pure ignorance that people
still hold onto such misinformation and we all need to swallow our
learned stereotypes and start opening our minds a bit.
Dr. Gary Levy, head of Canada’s largest organ transplant program
says, “I personally believe someone who has been in a monogamous
relationship for 30 years, regardless of the gender of their
partner, is a safe situation.” All homophobia aside, people all
over the world need organs everyday and it’s ridiculous and
practically inhumane to deny people the chance to give organs based
on their sexuality. Simply identifying as heterosexual doesn’t
guarantee that someone has had a clean past—why doesn’t this
simple and easy fact resonate with the lawmakers of Canada?