Interesting, as a former, non-gay, UK resident, I'm not allowed to give blood in the US, even though I was allowed to obtain a green-card, and screened for HIV by a US doctor in London.

I believed at the time this was due to the UK CJD scare. Can anyone confirm?

My gf at the time, also reported being denied the opportunity to give blood, after declaring on the form that she was in a relationship with a UK national.

I think you're right. I remember giving blood not too long after the CJD/mad cow scare, and the "have you been to the UK in the past 6 months" question surrounded by questions about eating beef from various countries.

I can confirm that. I lived in the UK for a short six months during that scare. Whenever I went to give blood around that time, I was asked that question, then denied. I haven't gone to give blood in a while though, so I don't know if that restriction is still in place or not.

How do they enforce this?

At least in the blood ban in the US, the only enforcement is the honesty policy.

The irony with this is that the men who are honest about having sex with men are also more likely to be aware of their HIV status than men who lie at the blood bank.

I feel the same as nostromo every time I am asked to give blood. I know I'm HIV-negative. I'm not South Asian, so I couldn't help Amit anyway.

I don't entirely agree with your irony (unless - and I've only seen this on TV... in fact I think only in the simpsons - do blood doners get paid in the US?)

Certainly in the UK, where there is no benefit for giving blood, I can only assume that those who lie about it are doing so because they too know (or 100% believe, possibly incorrectly) that they are clean, and they don't want what they see as pointless policy to prevent them from helping others.

Here's the problem with just saying "are you clean?" You could be in a long-term committed monogamous man-man relationship, and therefore believe you are completely safe. However, the fact that you trust your partner not to cheat on you does not mean that health authorities can trust him not to have cheated on you. So even if the person being asked is completely telling the truth, they might be wrong.

You can't think of any reason somebody might lie about being gay if they aren't paid money to do so?

If I were in the closet then, on discovering the MSM issue with donating blood, I would (assuming I had peaked far another out of the closet to have a MSM encounter) not donate blood, I wouldn't think "well I was going to, and I don't want people to think I'm gay so I'd better go through with it".

I think you're missing out on the term 'in the closet.'

You can get paid for donating plasma.

>men who lie at the blood bank. //

Isn't the only real reason to lie because you're doing it for yourself and not really to try and help other people?

They don't/can't.