Saturday June 11, 2022, 2pm EDT
On-Line Discussion: https://fb.me/e/3qgYiacds
With Dr. OmiSoore Dryden and Christopher Karas. Introduced and moderated by Gary Kinsman
Dr. OmiSoore Dryden, a Black queer femme, has conducted research on anti-Black racism/homophobia/transphobia in Canadian Blood Servies and blood donation in Canada for over 20 years. She is the PI (principal investigator) for the research project, #GotBlood2Give / #DuSangÀDonner, funded by Health Canada/CBS. Dryden is the James R Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies, Faculty of Medicine, Interim Director of the newly established Black Studies Research Institute at Dalhousie University, and the co-lead of the new national organization – The Black Health Education Collaborative.
Christopher Karas is a human rights advocate, who has been fighting discrimination since adolescence, has made it his mission to give additional strength to the representation of 2SLGBTQIA+. His current demands, which aim to change the rule prohibiting gay, bi, trans from donating blood, is an example of this.
Gary Kinsman is a member of the No Pride in Policing Coalition, the AIDS Activist History Project and the co-author of The Canadian War on Queers: National Security as Sexual Regulation. He was one of the first three employees of the AIDS Committee of Toronto and a member of AIDS ACTION NOW!
On April 28, 2022 it was announced that the blood ban against men who have sex with men was to be lifted. This was not the case.
It is not ending a blood ban when there is:
anti-Black racism
only one sex act question is asked, and it is about anal sex and is directed at men who have sex with men and trans women.
no donations allowed if anal sex with new or multiple partners
none if sex with HIV+ people even if no viral load
none if using PrEP
none when there is involvement in sex work
none when there is drug use
Part of No Pride in Policing Coalition – “Abolitionist Pride: Reclaiming our radical histories and creating liveable futures”
More information: https://fb.me/e/4NdMSq1ho