Gay Sperm Donors
Letter To The Editor,
NYTimes on the Web, May 25, 2005:
The Food and Drug Administration's
recommendation that sperm banks screen out gay and bisexual donors is flawed far
beyond the reasons given in "Who's Your Daddy?"
(Op-Ed, May 19).
The proposed guidance to sperm banks has no legitimate scientific rationale and
does little, if anything, to advance sound public health principles.
Rejecting as donors all men who have had sex with men in the preceding five
years not only reinforces anti-gay stigma, but also perpetrates falsehoods about
H.I.V. testing and transmission risks.
First, it is high-risk sexual activities in which a man engages that expose him
to H.I.V., not the sex of the person with whom he has intercourse. Second,
the five-year period suggested by the F.D.A. is drastically out of proportion to
actual risk.
A person exposed to H.I.V. develops detectable antibodies within two to three
months after infection, and the overwhelming majority test positive within the
first six months. The guidelines about to go into effect are screening on
the basis of sexual orientation, not on the basis of real risk.
We share the F.D.A.'s laudable goals of protecting public health and preventing
the transmission of communicable diseases through sperm donation, but the agency
should base its decisions on science, not stereotypes.
Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director
Lambda Legal
New York, May 19, 2005
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