LGBTQ advocates at Stony Brook are questioning part of the Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation to lift a lifetime ban on blood donations by gay and bisexual men.
However surprising it might be to the current students of Stony Brook University, our campus was once such an active base of operations for left-leaning political causes that many considered it the “Berkeley of the East.” After the end of the Vietnam War and the demonization of liberal ideals that came with Carter’s defeat, the political activity at the university quickly lost this identity. While liberal causes have continued to have a fairly muted presence on campus, the new drive toward allowing males who have had sex with other males to donate blood calls back to years past when students truly cared enough to change the world.
Last Wednesday, I attended the “Blood Donor Policy Panel” in the Charles B. Wang Center Theater presented by Stony Brook University’s Blood Donor Equality Movement. To be honest, my original purpose for going to the panel was to satisfy the “Hot Topic” event requirement for my undergraduate college. As soon as the panelists were introduced, my attention was fully devoted to the discussion on stage.
This year, New York became the tenth of 15 states and the District of Columbia to legalize gay marriage. But in the United States, men who have sex with other men still cannot donate blood. On Nov. 6, Stony Brook University’s Blood Donor Equality movement presented “The Blood Donor Policy Panel” in the Charles B. Wang Center Theatre. The event highlighted both social and scientific perspectives on the ban.
