MacRumors 2011 Blood Drive

Monday May 2, 2011 2:50 pm PDT by Doctor Q

MacRumors is pleased to announce the second annual MacRumors Blood Drive, for the month of May 2011. We encourage our forum members and site visitors to donate blood or platelets at any collection center. Our goal is to increase the number of donations by those in our online community. We also ask donors to post in our Blood Drive thread. Saving a life is its own reward but accepting recognition as a donor helps spread the message to others. Please donate, then let us know.

Most blood drives are specific to a physical organization at a particular location. Ours is online and worldwide. Please help people in need of life-saving blood and platelets in your own communities. If you are eligible to donate blood you can go to any blood collection center near you (hospital, community center, Red Cross, or independent donation center). If you are not eligible to donate see our announcement for other ways to support the drive.

Our effort is not related to a particular event. Donated blood and platelets are needed every few seconds, all year, not just when calamities occur. They save the lives of people recovering from accidents, undergoing surgery, or struck by illness. Specific eligibility requirements vary by country. For links and general information see Blood and Platelet Donation in our Mac Guides section.

Please join us in showing the spirit of our community. Details are in the MacRumors 2011 Blood Drive thread.

Apple's health and relief efforts over the years have included donations for 9/11 workers in 2001, the Songs for Sudan effort in 2004, (PRODUCT) RED participation since 2006, help for Haitian earthquake victims in 2010, and help for victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami this March.

Tag: MacRumors blood drive
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GeekLawyer
115 months ago
I suppose I should point out, as is inevitable, that gay men are barred from giving blood, at least in the United States.

So, while I can't participate, my best wishes to those who can. Thank you for your sacrifice!
Rating: 13 Votes
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jesuscandle
115 months ago
Please give

Blood transfusions have quite literally saved my life - twice - yet I am ineligible to give due to a past cancer.

If you can, please give. You'll help people like me live to see another Mac. :)
Rating: 11 Votes
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ThunderSkunk
115 months ago
Aaaach. I almost got tipsy just seeing those images. ...which is weird, since I used to donate blood all the time. And saw quite a bit of it in the service, and being a mountain biker...

Oh well, none of you will get my bisexual blood either I guess. ...but just think of all that potentially homosexual blood floating around out there from years past... ticking time bombs, those platelets! The gayness! It's in the blood! lol
Rating: 6 Votes
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Cognomen
115 months ago
Excuse me, I can see where I can rate this topic for Positive or Negative but where do I write A, B or O .........................?
Rating: 4 Votes
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stridemat
115 months ago
It's an hour well spent in my opinion. At the moment I'm fit and healthy, but this might not always be the case...

I would urge everyone that if you are eligible then please visit your local centre.
Rating: 4 Votes
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tbobmccoy
115 months ago

I have no problem with homosexuality, but it is a legitimate medical prohibition given the higher risk factors for blood disease. Straight men that sleep with hookers, and intravenous drug users are also banned on the same grounds. I genuinely don't believe it is a deliberately discriminatory policy, just the unfortunate scientific reality.


I'm not gay, but I take offense to the idea of equating homosexual activity with "sleeping with hookers, and intravenous drug users". Just because someone is gay doesn't mean they sleep around, just like someone who is straight doesn't just sleep around. This is something that you should probably reflect on, in that gay people can be just as likely or not to sleep around and behave in risky ways as straight people can.
Rating: 4 Votes
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fixmymac
115 months ago

I suppose I should point out, as is inevitable, that gay men are barred from giving blood, at least in the United States.

So, while I can't participate, my best wishes to those who can. Thank you for your sacrifice!


This is also the case in the UK. A patently ridiculous stance, given that there is a constant message given on TV and radio that there is a shortage.
Rating: 4 Votes
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neko girl
115 months ago

The irony of a forum with a very large gay and bisexual membership to ask for blood donations is beyond ridiculous.

Think this through, MacRumors, think this through.

I think what good donating blood does is bigger than your sexual orientation, or mine. I would have died if not for donated blood, so maybe I'm biased, I don't know.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Doctor Q
115 months ago

I must ask, how long has MacRumors been supporting blood drives and where did the relationship come from?

I don't totally see the connection, but I love this promotion. What a good cause!

As this site has grown from a small hobby site to one of the biggest Apple-related sites on the web, we've hoped to foster more community-oriented projects. We've participated in Folding@Home for years, and members have organized many other group activities themselves. When Shaun.P, a forum member dedicated to blood donation, brought up the idea of a blood drive last year, it just clicked with us. arn approved of the idea even though it's not related to our usual news and rumors. I'm a long-time proponent of blood/platelet donation myself (having donated over 60 units) so I was certainly in favor of it. The other administrators and moderators, some of whom have interests and knowledge that was directly relevant, helped work out the details for what an online blood drive would mean. So here we are!
Rating: 3 Votes
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bikertwin
115 months ago
While I'd like to applaud MacRumors for instituting a blood drive, it seems particularly cruel in that there is a larger percentage of gay men among Apple fans than in the general population.

And we can't donate.

For political reasons, not scientific ones.

Even the American Red Cross wants our blood:

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/14/ban-on-gay-men-donating-blood-upheld/

Talk about risk factors--what about closeted gay men who screw random strangers, having unprotected sex, and then go home to their cozy wife & kids? If their wife/workplace encourages them to donate blood, are they going to reveal their sexuality and not donate? Sure, they can go through the act and check the box so their blood gets thrown away... but if they're ****ing guys behind their wives' backs, why would they show any honesty or compassion for their fellow humans.

You know this must be happening every day. And yet where are the news stories of people being infected with HIV. There are none. Because we have tests now--we've had them for a while--to detect HIV. So the blood isn't used.

So why can't out gay men donate?

No scientific reason. It's political.

The Human Rights Campaign, the American Red Cross, America's Blood Centers and AABB, formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks, support easing the lifetime ban to allow gay blood donors. In a joint statement, the blood organizations said that safety was the first priority and that potential donors should be screened more fairly, regardless of sexual orientation.

About three months ago, Sen. John Kerry and 17 other senators signed a letter to the FDA blasting its "outdated" policy.

Gay men, including those who are in monogamous relationships, are forbidden from contributing blood for the rest of their lives, while "a heterosexual who has had sex with a prostitute need only wait a year [before giving blood]. That does not strike me as a sound scientific conclusion," Kerry wrote in a March 9 letter.

Rating: 3 Votes

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