You took a right decision dude. You should have spat on that paper and given it
to the doctor. But donating blood to your friend was more important than such
pitty things.....
cheers
Walnut
icarius_slade <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi
guys !
Sometime back, i had gone to donate blood at the bloodbank of
Lilavati Hospital at Bandra, for a friend of mine, who was in urgent
need of it. Before the needful was done however, we had to fill in a
(sort of) medical history form where stuff like whether u were
sufferring from asthma, jaundice etc. were asked.....pretty normal
fare. And then, i froze ! Somewhere down below was a qustion "R U a
homosexual ?" I was obviously shocked !
What is the need for asking such a stupid question ? How on earth
could a respectable hospital like Lilavati, where all the top
filmstars etc. go for their treatment, be so regressive ? I asked 1
of my doctor pals & he said that the Govt. of india had definetly not
made any such idiotic norm. Then why this discrimination ?
The only reason i could come up with was that because of the
stereotype of gays being promiscious, we perhaps fell under some kind
of high-risk category & hence, if i'd have ticked "yes", they'd have
denied me permission to donate blood, DESPITE me being completely
healthy ! But why this discrimination against us ? Does this mean
that heterosexuals have "purer" blood ? For all u know, the hetero
guy/gal standing by my side might be HIV+ve while I am not & still my
blood may not be given, purely for me being a gay.....and the patient
may just die.
I was reminded of one episode in Queer as Folk (the US version) where
Brian is denied from giving his blood to save Mike, just because he
was gay.If this can happen in a "developed" society like the US, what
abt. lesser mortals like us ?
VERY HESITATINGLY, i had to tick the "No" column, as the patient
reqd. blood urgently and there was no time to be wasted on arguments.
It wrenched my heart, but i didn't have any option. I had to attend
to another urgent engagement that day due to which, i had to push off
early. Do other hospitals in Bby, or for that matter, anywhere else
in India, ask for this criterion ? What logic does it serve ? Thought
that i'd bring it to the attention of every member of this group...
Icarius
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