Red Cross refuses blood donations from homosexuals, Thai human rights group threatens lawsuit
Imprimir Incrementar tamaño de fuente Disminuir tamaño de fuente

Rome, Italy, Apr 3, 2008 / 12:54 pm (CNA).- The Commission for Human Rights of Thailand has threatened to sue the local Red Cross for discrimination, after the organization said it would not accept blood donations from homosexual males in order to protect against possibly spreading the AIDS virus.

The Red Cross said it has a large quantity of blood contaminated by the HIV virus, most of which was donated by homosexuals.  “The Red Cross has the right to protect its patients who need a blood transfusion to save their lives and therefore we must restrict donors who engage in risky sexual behavior,” the organization said.

However, Naiyana Supapueng of the Commission for Human Rights of Thailand said the decision by the Red Cross amounted to sexual discrimination and threatened to file a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court.

At the same time, the leader of the Gay Political Group of Thailand, Natee Teerarojjanapongs, who at first opposed the Red Cross decision, said he now accepted it as official statistics confirm that at least 28% of Thailand’s homosexuals are HIV-positive.

Imprimir Incrementar tamaño de fuente Disminuir tamaño de fuente
Subscriber comments:
Published by: Noel
Australia 04/04/2008 07:08 PM EST
In Australia it is against the law for those who are homosexual or even those who have had a brief liaison with them. THe blood in Australia is collected by the Red Cross who place all donations through a very stringent screening process,for all communicable diseases, prior to release to the general public. Perhaps this may be the way to go - let them donate then discard.
Rate this comment:
Published by: Dunker Kamba
Malawi 04/04/2008 04:05 AM EST
Thats very pathetic,and something really has to be done because this is really bad,its what we may call descrimination at its best.Blood is blood whether its coming from a gay person or a straight one.What matters is that the commissoin should be strict in diagonising the HIV positive blood and the negative ones but otherwise the gay community has shown that they are concerned with the shortages of blood in Thailand.
Rate this comment:
ADD A COMMENT (Your e-mail will NOT be published):
NAME:
CITY/STATE/COUNTRY:
EMAIL:
COMMENT:
 
PLEASE ENTER THE SECURITY CODE DISPLAYED ABOVE:
Chars:
* Thanks for your comments. The number of messages that can be online is limited. Length should not exceed 1500 characters. CNA reserves the right to edit messages for content and tone. Comments and opinions expressed by users do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of CNA. CNA will not publish comments with abusive language, insults or links to other pages.
ADVERTISING
Place your ad here
Resources:
Columns:
News:
Documents:
Tools:
ACI Group:
ACI Prensa