I enjoyed your August 1 article “Plasma offers students additional income”; however, the article failed to note that donating blood or plasma is not possible for non-heterosexuals or even a man that has “slept with another person of the same sex even once.” The article stated that all units are tested for HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases, eliminating the need for discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Perhaps the policies on donation should be tweaked to go with statistics on HIV/AIDS: the highest percentage of people contracting HIV/AIDS in America happens to be African-American women. Let’s ban all African-American women that have had sex – even once – from donating blood or plasma.

Apparently there is no chance in that happening.

America continues to be the only developed country that sees HIV/AIDS as a “gay disease,” and until that changes, many gays and lesbians wanting to donate and help save lives will not be allowed to do so.

Joel Taylor

Sophomore

Political Science

Special Projects Coordinator,

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Alliance