The Brown & White

I am writing because of an incident that occurred on campus this past Sunday, April 19.

I was driving down Taylor Street past Grace Hall when I noticed a group of students standing in the road. As I slowed down to avoid hitting them, one student jumped in front of my car holding a sign for registering for the national "Be The Match" bone marrow donation registry. Yelling to me that it would take only 10 minutes and giving me limited options to continue driving, I had to swerve completely around him to continue on my way. The student began screaming into my car, "This guy doesn't care!" and I was booed the rest of the way down the street.

Each year, many campus organizations sponsor drives to help those in need, and I applaud their efforts. However, one thing many students might not be aware of is that dated, discriminatory practices from both the American Red Cross and the National Marrow Donor Program exclude an entire segment of the population from participating in these necessary efforts.

For no reason other than falsely-perceived higher risk of dangerous sexually transmitted diseases, non-heterosexual men are excluded from donating. While I support and respect the efforts of on-campus student groups to register people for the National Marrow Donor Program, I do not appreciate being heckled in the middle of the road and then ridiculed for not participating when I'm not eligible to donate because of a dated, prejudiced criteria.

Whether or not this practice is fair is still up to much debate between medical experts and the general public, but what is definitely not fair is telling me that I don't care.