Thanks to the Star Tribune Editorial Board for urging more people to donate blood ("More of us need to donate blood," editorial, Aug. 31). I started making regular blood donations during last year's COVID lockdown as a way to help during a very helpless-feeling time.
Then, by chance, my 19-year-old son was diagnosed with a serious bone marrow disorder this June and has had many blood and platelet transfusions since then to keep him alive while we are waiting for his bone marrow transplant. Every time he gets a transfusion, we look at the bag of lifesaving blood or platelets and feel so incredibly thankful to the kind donors who gave of themselves, quite literally.
It is very easy to donate and one blood donation can save up to three lives. A huge thank you to all the amazing blood donors.
Char Mason, St. Paul
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The Star Tribune's Aug. 31 editorial calling for more of us to take the simple and lifesaving step of donating blood was timely and appreciated. There is one group made up of tens of thousands of Americans who would readily heed this call but are legally barred from doing so under certain circumstances: gay and bisexual men. In the U.S., men who have had sex with other men any time in the past three months cannot donate blood (this was changed from anytime in the past 12 months during the pandemic). This is true even if the man in question is in a monogamous, long-term relationship or marriage. Think of your gay friends whose wedding you went to a couple of years ago: The government says they are too dangerous to participate in the neighborhood blood drive. But a straight person, regardless of how many sexual partners they have had in just the past month, is more than welcome to roll up their sleeve.
This is despite rigorous testing of all donated blood for any sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.
Lives literally depend on ending this discriminatory practice.