As a gay guy with a rare blood type, what is stopping me from giving blood?

Don't lie and put others at risk. Many blood banks no longer consider gays ineligible to be donors. Check around.

If it ever got out that you lied on the form, you could face criminal prosecution. Now sure, that is unlikely, but blood donation criteria are there for a reason- you might not like it, but if you donate blood in breach of these criteria you run a risk of contaminating the blood supply with blood-borne viruses, which has serious health implications for blood transfusion recipients.

Furthermore, if you did have a disease and the test came back positive, it would become apparent that you were lying and you could be charged. It's basically not worth it.

Blood donation criteria are worked out by expert committees with the sole purpose of ensuring the blood supply is safe. It's not about discrimination or excluding people for arbitrary reasons, it's due to preventing infections- populations which have a higher incidence of blood-borne viruses are excluded for a very good reson.

oh it IS enforceable, especially for lying about your sexual status. I don't want blood that could possibly be contaminated with AIDS or Hep C They KNOW where the blood comes from and test it extensively and if you lied on the predonor questionnaire, they won't accept you again as a donor. Why would you want to put mankind at a risk? You aren't the only one with a rare blood type.

In the United States, deferral is based on FDA-defined high risk activity, not sexual orientation. Homosexual/Bisexual males who have not engaged in MSM activity for the last 12 months are not deferred from volunteer blood donation.

Blood donation eligibility guidelines are determined by the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), a division of the Food and Drug Administration. While prior FDA regulations required indefinite deferral for any male-sex-male (MSM) contact, even once, since 1977, a recent Revised Guidance, supported by the The American Red Cross and America's Blood Centers (AmericasBlood.org) has changed the deferral to 12 months since last contact. A link to the FDA Guidance is found below:

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBl...

The rational for the revised deferral, which takes into account current CDC data on risk factors, is well explained in the publication.

Currently available blood donation screening using HIV Nucleic Acid testing (PCR) may detect viral RNA as early as 7-10 days post-exposure. HIV antibody testing, used in conjunction with NAT, can detect infection after 12-21 days post-exposure. It is this "window period', the time between infection and detection, that the FDA is concerned about. Though window-period donations are rare, the first proven case of post-transfusion HIV since 2002 was reported in the publication listed below:

CDC "Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report" October 22, 2010 / 59(41);1335-1339

Specifics on the donor indicate unreported MSM activity over many years.

Until pathogen inactivation technology has been perfected to treat donated blood components for transfusion-transmissible diseases, honest answers to the donor questionnaire and screening tests provide the best chance for a safe blood supply.