the reason the policy seems homophobic is that it came about during AIDs hysteria when people thought it was a gay disease and the policy does not include those who engage in risky sex outside of gay people AND they test the blood anyway AND you can't even get an exemption if you have recently tested negative and not engaged in sexual activity with new partners since then.
essentially it is "its just easier to ban gay people than be fair because who cares"
not sure how it is hard to understand how that might tick off some people. not really an issue that matters to me though because I can't even give blood anyway because of medication.
While I think the lack of exemptions if you got tested (including the incubation period and whatnot) raises a good point, other people who engage in risky sexual activities are banned from donating. At least, they're here. I think it's 3 months if you had a new sexual partner, and that's with using a condom.
I don't know how long it takes, or what the nature of the ban is, if you didn't use one.
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I'm but a simple companion in the pack of gurus whereof SuperNiceDog is the pack leader!