Out In The Mountains : News - Red Cross Blood Drives Generate Campus Controversy

      A controversy has erupted over Red Cross blood drives conducted within the dormitories of the University of Vermont’s Burlington campus.
      At issue is the Federal Drug Administration’s screening policy excluding men who have sex with men from ever giving blood. The American Red Cross follows the screening exclusion – and, according to one article, supported its continuance.
      The policy, says gay UVM student Evan Litwin, discriminates unfairly against gay men because heterosexuals engaging in risky behaviors are excluded from giving blood only for a year after the last sexual or drug-related risk. Further, Litwin explains, the University is not following its own policy by allowing an organization that discriminates against gay men to solicit volunteers on campus.
      “One morning I went downstairs in my dorm for breakfast... there was a Red Cross blood drive going on in the lobby. I was completely shocked,” recalled Litwin, “as I do not approve of RC policies, which allow a woman who has had sex with a gay/bi man to give blood 12 months after and gay men can never give blood.”
      Elise Blinder, a UVM sophomore and Red Cross volunteer, said the controversy has become intense, with heated discussion on the University’s glbtqa discussion listserve culminating in a confrontation at a Living/Learning blood drive last month. Blinder, an EMT, directs the Emergency Medicine program at the L/L Center, which sponsors two blood drives per year.
      “The screening standard is based on the statistical analysis of medical data from all over the United States, and in that respect it does make sense to me. I understand that certain populations must be excluded from donating blood because of the window that exists between transmission of a disease like HIV and the ability of the test available today to detect it,” Blinder said.
      “I also feel that there are flaws in the guideline in question [men who have sex with men, or MSM]. I think it is ridiculous to exclude all gay men from donating when a good portion of the gay population practices safe sex. The guideline could be changed to inquire about safe sex practices and also to defer those who do not practice them for a year instead of a lifetime,” she continued.
      According to her research on the issue, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that removing the restriction entirely “would result in 1200 units of infected blood being brought into the U.S. blood pool each year.”
      In any case, Blinder argues, targeting the Red Cross blood drives instead of the FDA is aiming at the wrong target. Attempting to remove the blood drives from campus would mean a serious drop in the amount of blood available for Vermont patients who need it, since UVM students contribute about 280 units per school year.
      Following extensive email discussions, Blinder invited Litwin to solicit signatures at a Living/Learning blood drive for a petition to the FDA to change the screening criteria, because she and the program members “wanted to show their support for the gay community and disdain for the MSM guideline. I set up a table for him and everything,” Blinder said.
      Litwin instead brought a petition to remove the blood drives from the dorms. Heated negotiation followed, according to Blinder, resulting in Litwin’s petition table being moved out of the blood drive room and into the hallway.
      Litwin said his motivation in petitioning to move the blood drives out of the dorms is based on his rights as a resident, delineated by Residential Life guidelines. “One of my primary rights is to feel safe and comfortable in my living space. A subordinate right is the right for a group (i.e., the Emergency Medical Students or the Red Cross group on campus) to assemble in the common space. The university also defines discrimination as actions or thought behavior that perpetuate the continued marginalization of a group – I would say this fits.”
      Litwin said his petition at the Living/Learning blood drive collected “around 150-170 signatures.” Dissenters, he said, were worried that people would die because blood was not available.
      “Well, in my opinion, people will not die by me asserting my rights, people will die because you did not want to walk 500 extra feet to the gymnasium to donate blood. My rights do not take a back seat because the Red Cross feels that students are lazy and more apt to donate if they are in their faces in the dorms [which is] precisely my concern,” Litwin declared.
      Litwin said he had recently met with Kim Martin-Anderson, the Interim Director of Residential Life, to present his petition. “I was told they would make a decision but probably not for a long time. In the meantime, all blood drives in the dorms are cancelled.”
      According to Martin-Anderson, “Actually, there are no other blood drives scheduled until next fall” – at least not in the dorms. A blood drive was scheduled for the end of March in the Billings Student Center, according to the Red Cross. Typically, Martin-Anderson said, there are six blood drives per year in the residence halls, with additional drives in more central locations such as the Billings Student Center and Patrick Gymnasium.
      Asked how she would make a decision on whether to allow the dorm blood drives, Martin-Anderson replied, “I don’t really know. This is bigger than residential life – it’s really an issue for the University. If we determine that there is discrimination, then moving the drives out of the dorms doesn’t really solve the issue.”
      Martin-Anderson did not rule out a petition from the University as a whole to the FDA to change the screening criteria, adding that several dorm blood drives have welcomed the presence of FDA petitions.
      “People have been petitioning the FDA for 25 years now and nothing has changed,” declares Litwin. “By changing my aim to the Red Cross I may be able to start a pattern around other campuses nationwide, or send a message that this is unacceptable.”
      He concluded, “It is simple, any organization that enters our ‘gates’ must be held to the same standards as the students who attend the University. Our core values and beliefs encompass equity and diversity. Just because the Red Cross collects blood, it doesn't mean we should sacrifice those values.”
      It’s not simple, because if changed locations mean less blood, “people in Vermont will die,” Blinder said. “Vermont is on the verge of a blood shortage right now. This is an issue that should be taken up with the FDA. I have been an EMT for 5 years and have seen many people die from the loss of blood. I find myself wondering, ‘What if that was my patient that didn’t receive the blood that they needed because of this?’
      “As an out lesbian I know exactly what discrimination feels like and empathize with the students that feel hurt by the blood drives on campus. [But] no one is immune to illness or injury and the blood collected at the blood drives is for all of us, should we ever need it.”