UWO Students Stage Die-In at Blood Clinic, Arguing Homophobia Kills

London / November 13, 2007 – A group of queer students and their supporters staged a theatrical “die-in” outside the UWO campus blood clinic, protesting the way in which Canadian Blood Services’ discriminatory policies encourage the spreading of hate and contribute to the deaths of queer individuals.

Members of SAQD, as well as supporters from SOHOC and PIRG arrived dressed all in black, carrying tombstones and signs with the names and stories of a few of the many queer individuals who have died, as a result of murder or suicide, since the last time Canadian Blood Services was asked to change their policy by York University ten years ago. The names and stories lent a personal touch to the protest, communicating in a stark manner the very real, and often deadly, cost of institutionalized homophobia. “Homophobia Kills” shouted those who were present, arguing that they were there to speak for those who no longer could.

Students were protesting a particular policy, the so-called MSM policy, which bans all men who have sex with a man since 1977 from donating blood for life. This policy was drafted at a time when tests for HIV were unreliable and the epidemic was primarily confined to gay males. Both the science and the epidemic have changed, as tests are no able to reliably detect HIV outside of a 6-month window, and the epidemic is no longer confined to gay males, with straight females making up 50% of infections in London this year, while the number of gay males dropped to 33%.

One student present highlighted the fact that discrimination based on race, gender, or other minority group status would never be tolerated, yet nothing was being done about what was, by CBS’ own admission, a discriminatory and out-dated policy. Arguing that it was past time that the University enforced its own non-discrimination policy, which promises a “safe and welcoming academic environment” for all students, those gathered circulated a petition calling on the University administration to provide that safe environment by removing Canadian Blood Services from campus until such time as they alter their policies to discriminate based on behaviours rather than orientation.

Members of the UWO administration were present to witness the event, however when approached by students regarding their position on the matter they remained silent, saying only that they would act if and when students provided proof of homophobic verbal or physical assaults. When pressured for their stance on the structural violence of discriminatory policies such as this one, administrators quickly moved outside where they took time to discuss the matter with the media, apparently believing their opinions to be of more importance than those of the students they are paid to represent.