"If - instead of blood - you find deadly corrosive acid...you've got a gay!"
Property of 20th Century Fox; image courtesy of Family Guy Wiki

I wouldn't be surprised if this post gets a mention on Unofficial Guild this week. After all it's a somewhat controversial start to a serious post about blood donation. :P

I felt it fitting; the policy on men who have sex with men donating blood - along with the facts in hand - is enough proof that the National Blood service believes that "the blood of the gays" is deadly.

A bit of history

Since 2005, the Guild has boycotted the NBS in support of the campaigning against this policy. The only challenge - up until the election of Johnny Davis as VPW - was a series of lapsed Guild Council motions that never got anywhere. Bringing the blood service back to campus was one of Johnny's more popular manifesto pledges.

The National Blood Service back on Campus

Yesterday I had an interview with RedBrick editor Nick Petrie focusing on this issue, which you can listen to:

In a little more depth...

As I said I'm still fairly new to this job and still playing catchup. Until late last week I was completely unaware that the NBS had been banned. After reading through a rather lengthy email from Johnny on Guild/NBS history 101 I wasn't too keen on having them back on campus. Without proper oversight, this move can easily be misconstrued as the Guild "lying down" and tolerating this policy. The very worst thing that the body responsible for LGBTQ representation can do is nothing.

The compromise of setting up an information stall came with a lot of thought and reflection, discussion with Johnny, gay and bisexual friends and colleagues as well as some brilliant ideas from the LGBTQ committee. "Give blood because we can't" epitomises why the LGBT community as a whole has been campaigning against this policy for years and I'm confident it will be a huge success.

The Anthony Nolan Trust and other charities

It's still early days but it looks as if the Guild and LGBTQ can do a lot to help out the Anthony Nolan Trust and vice versa. That's all there is to report for the time being but keep your eyes peeled!

So, please...

If you can give blood on Friday 25th September - and indeed any other visits the blood service make - then please do; it's for a good cause!