Ottawa: Protest against Gay Organ Ban

Today on parliament hill gay rights protesters gathered in protest against a recently introduced policy by Health Canada. The policy bans gay men from being organ donors, a move made based more on homophobia then any form of science. This is a move that only hurts people desperately needing organ transplants. The idea states some sort of dark age belief that gay men are some how contaminated and diseased which is far from acceptable in a country that is supposed to be one of the most progressive on gay rights.

It seems that the charter of rights and freedoms is a document that many people are forgetting these days. As under Charter law people cannot be discriminated against based on sexual orientation. Yet Health Canada seems to have forgotten the Charter and is living on either Judeo-Christian notions of sin or the homophobia based scare of HIV/AIDS despite the fact that most AIDS victims are actually heterosexual. The concept that people may die because, Health Canada won't allow gay males to give their organs is a blatant disregard for the Hippocratic Oath and any other for Health professionals to do no harm.

The protest was organized by 'Standing Against Queer Discrimination'. The first protest held was in London, Ontario on January 17th outside the Health Canada office there. They since called a National Day of Action for February 26th. Cities across the country had protests outside local Health Canada offices against the ban and, here in Ottawa SAQD officials met with parliamentary officials while the protest went on outside. According to Ottawa residents the protest on Parliament with about 80 people in attendance and speakers including an NDP MP and the Liberal Health Critic.

Yet this is not the only discriminatory health practice in Canada against gay males. Any man who has ever in their lifetime had sex with another man is barred from donating blood by the Canadian Blood Services a policy that has gone on since 1977. Even if a womyn has had sex with a man who has sex with a man she is disqualified for giving blood for a year. Both the organ ban and blood donation ban does nothing but harm the public and puts people at risk who could otherwise be helped.

Photos Courtesy of Kaitlyn Kincaid