Local LGBTQ+ members share impact of new access to donate blood
By Alex Love
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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — For years, being able to donate blood was a major hassle for members of a certain communities.
Stringent guidelines were in place for LGBTQ+ members to even get in line. That was until the FDA updated its guidelines to make the process more inclusive.
In Lenexa, members and allies praised the recent victory, issuing hope for more progress toward equality.
No longer being required to wait a certain amount of time to donate blood, members of the LGBTQ+ community hope this brings them closer to being seen as equals in society as they hold another pride in the park event.
Since the Community Blood Center announced their new donor screening process will no longer be based on gender and sexual identity or sexual orientation, members of the LGBTQ+ community appreciate the opportunity to being allowed to give blood.
“It’s really groundbreaking and resourceful to hear that there has been a consideration for not stigmatizing people for wanting to help the community,” Johnson County Pride Association Co-Chair Margeaux Seymour said. “And really allowing that scientific evidence to step forward and allow more opportunities.”
“Not letting Queer people donate blood is a form of discrimination because not everybody is HIV positive,” LGBTQ+ member Erin Brown added. “Saying all of you are is not cool. So allowing people who want to help to help is amazing. I love that.”
Having equal opportunities to give blood is the latest example why local LGBTQ+ members want to show their community is a welcoming and family friendly atmosphere.
Which is why parents in attendance wanted their kids to be part of the support.
“Some people love people of the same gender, some people want to be a different gender than they were born as and it’s really not that hard to understand,” LGBTQ+ member Andrea Lucas argued. “I think having family friendly events like these really helps send the message that love is for everyone.”
“I think it just makes people more open and honest about people around them because growing up this was not a thing for me,” Sarah Belhimer, who brought her daughter to Pride in the Park, said. “So I just like being able to see my children being around all walks of life.”
To continue progress, the Johnson County Pride Association partnered with non-partisan voter registration groups to inform people where they could go to register for the next election and research candidates from all levels.
“There’s been a lot of legislation that effects them and their families,” League of Women Voters Co-Chair Anne Stroud stated. “So it’s really important for their voices to be heard.”
Going forward, leaders of the Johnson County Pride Association and families who brought their kids here hope it leaves the next generation with a community more accepting for them as they get older.
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