University of Western Ontario Bans Media, Silences Students

London / November 9, 2007 – The University of Western Ontario Student’s Council removed A-Channel reporters from a Canadian Blood Services presentation on their homophobic blood policies earlier this evening. This was the latest example of a continuing attempt to silence the voices of student advocates arguing for an end to Canada’s out-dated policies banning any men who have had sex with men since 1977 from donating blood.

The night’s most disturbing feature was the presence of University police, detached to prevent any external media coverage of this event. The student council’s claims that the forum was designed solely for students, and that the media was banned for the benefit of students, rang hollow given that invitations had been extended to the media by students themselves. This obvious attempt to prevent student voices from being heard caused those members of the print media present to express surprise at the student council’s actions. One reporter compared the evening’s one-sided debate, at which members of opposing parties were not given the opportunity to participate to that of an extremist religious group.

Despite the one-sided nature of the discussion, Canadian Blood Services representatives were forced to backtrack on the University administration’s earlier statements that their policy was not discriminatory, admitting under heavy questioning that their policies were in fact discriminatory and that there was much room for improvement. As a result of relentless questioning from both scientific experts and student protesters, CBS representatives admitted that group-based policies, such as their ‘MSM’ (men who have sex with men) policy, needed to be replaced with behaviour-based policies which addressed the fact that the true danger to the blood supply rested in those who participate in risky behaviours, rather than those who possessed any given sexual preference. Admitting that their group-based policy and its resulting lifetime deferral for gay men failed to address either the issue of discrimination or the issue of safety, they pleaded for more time to study the research. This despite the fact that a study commissioned by them and released this year had come to the conclusion that reducing the current lifetime deferral to a 5 year, or even 12 month, deferral period would have no effect on the safety of the blood supply – a study which they had considered and then ignored when choosing in June of this year to uphold their admittedly outdated policy.

A student present at the event expressed her dismay at the way in which CBS continued to attempt to pass the responsibility, either to a lack of research or an old policy, arguing that “the research has been done, and the fact that it’s an old policy is all the more reason to get moving faster”. Other students present expressed their commitment to continue to pressure CBS for a change to their policy, stating their intention to examine their options and escalate their actions as needed to convince CBS to alter their policy or, failing that, to persuade the UWO administration to follow McGill University in bringing an end to the presence of CBS blood donor clinics on campus as a show of support for their queer students.

Media Contact: Joshua M. Ferguson, Co-Activist Director, Standing Against Queer Discrimination.

saqd.uwo@gmail.com. ***Video of reporters and police is available, contact for details***