Recently, the Human Rights Campaign released a statement on a hearing in which the “American Red Cross, the American Association of Blood Banks and America’s Blood Centers [testified] that the ban on blood donations from men who have had sex with men since 1977 should be lifted,” in which HRC President Joe Solmonese commented:
Twentieth century prejudice shouldn’t keep us from 21st century health standards. Our nation’s leading blood services organizations agree that there is no rational justification for treating gay and bisexual men different than straight men. Given modern testing and the fact that anyone can be vulnerable to infection, there is no medical or scientific rationale for this discriminatory policy.
Predictably, Concerned Women for America’s resident anti-gay “expert” Matt Barber weighed in and, instead of criticizing the groups that actually delivered this testimony, chose to attack Solmonese for intentionally endangering the nation’s blood supply:
“Joe Solmonese’s demand is incredibly reckless and selfish,” said Matt Barber, Policy Director for Cultural Issues with Concerned Women for America (CWA). “Unfortunately, it’s a common demand among his fellow extremists.
“In South Africa, militant homosexual activists have been deliberately and surreptitiously violating that nation’s blood ban, planning to flood blood services with 70,000 units. Who knows how much blood has been contaminated or how many innocent people have been infected,” said Barber, “This isn’t a protest; it’s an act of violence.
…
“Joe Solmonese has severely damaged his credibility here, and he should immediately withdraw his demand. It’s unconscionable that he would place a deceptive and dangerous political agenda above the health and well-being of American men, women and children.
Barber has been a busy man lately, working to turn anti-gay Oklahoma legislator Sally Kern into a right-wing cause célèbre after she was recorded saying that the gay agenda is the “biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam,” so it is no surprise that Barber would cite HRC’s position as proof that Kern was indeed correct in her assessment:
In recent days, Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern has been viciously attacked and maligned, even receiving death threats, for saying that homosexual activism poses a grave threat. This represents but one example of many which illustrate her point. She can rest her case.
