The American Red Cross, an organization that collects blood for hospitals and patients in need, has changed their eligibility rules. Previously, a donor’s biological sex determined how the donor was categorized. The donor’s sex also was a key factor in determining eligibility in cases where the donor was a man having who has had sex with another man in the past 12 months. This eligibility requirement was put in place due to the elevated risk of HIV contraction from blood that was collected from a gay man. The requirement does not include women who have had sex with another women.

Now, a male donor who has sex with other males can identify themselves as a woman and donate as such. This means that a previously excluded donor is now eligible to donate, putting patients’ lives at risk. It appears that The Red Cross does not care about the lives of patients, they simply want to avoid being called TERFs and backlash from transgender activists.

I would like to get one thing clear:

Identifying as a woman does not change the sex of the body in which the blood is being collected from.

There are several studies, like this one, that note a higher incidence of HIV infection among MSM (men who have sex with other men). Due to the fact that sex determines your risk, not the way you feel (aka gender identity), transgender donors who identify as a woman are putting patients’ lives at risk.

Now what about female donors who are identifying as a man? If they are heterosexual (they have sex with men), now they will be considered “gay men”, and will thus not be allowed to donate blood for 12 months. Yet, if this female donor did not disclose that she “felt like a man”, she would be allowed to donate. So eligible donors are being turned away because The Red Cross wants to be politically correct.

This whole debacle makes one think, do transgender people and their allies even care about anyone but themselves? Is putting hundreds or thousands of lives at risk worth validating your identity?