I don't get it either. African-American women are one of the fastest rising HIV+ groups in the US, yet they aren't banned. Yes, anyone can transmit HIV.
The policy is ignorant and based upon the idea that all men who have sex with other men are unsafe, promiscuous, and an hiv test won't be effective as they may have had a recent exposure that is essentially untestable. Its a holdover from the 80's when people were afraid of catching the 'gay disease'.
In my view, unless there is some test for being gay (there isn't) then just go ahead and register. If you're a match, then make sure you're hiv negative and haven't had any risky behavior in the past few months and you should be good to go.
Anyone can transmit HIV, but MSM are much more likely to have it than any other demographic subgroup. Don't let your ideology get in the way of the facts. The CDC says that 600,000 MSM are living with HIV, that's about 1 in 10 MSM. That's tragic.
I googled around for some stats, and I found this quote from a website called the Bay Area Reporter:
"According to a 2008 CDC study, one in five MSM in 21 major U.S. cities were infected with HIV, and nearly half (44 percent) were unaware of their infection. The study also found that 28 percent of black MSM were HIV-infected, compared to 18 percent of Hispanic/Latino MSM and 16 percent of white MSM. Of the HIV-infected black MSM, 59 percent were unaware of their infection."
The policy is ignorant and based upon the idea that all men who have sex with other men are unsafe, promiscuous, and an hiv test won't be effective as they may have had a recent exposure that is essentially untestable. Its a holdover from the 80's when people were afraid of catching the 'gay disease'.
In my view, unless there is some test for being gay (there isn't) then just go ahead and register. If you're a match, then make sure you're hiv negative and haven't had any risky behavior in the past few months and you should be good to go.