Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: Opinion

Michael Rizzo

As if the straight kids at San Jose State University play any safer than the gay kids.

And as if San Jose State University was the only place where straight people could donate blood.



The inevitable

I used to lie about it. I was embarrassed that I had never taken care of what all modern sex education outlets teach is every individual's responsibility to past and future partners.

But now I don't have to lie anymore. I was tested for HIV on Monday for the first time - after six years of sexual activity and seven partners.

I went to the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center in San Jose and the test was free.

Anthony Trazo, 28, was my counselor. I was nervous.

"I have to tell you that this is not 100 percent accurate," he said. "It's 99.8. If we don't find anything, then that's it. If this is reactive, I need a second opinion. You will get your results today in 20 minutes. Are you okay with this?"

The test Anthony was about to conduct would examine saliva on my gum line in search of antibodies - antibodies that my body would be producing if it was trying to fight HIV.

He gave me a cotton swab and asked me to use it to wipe my upper and lower gums.

Five seconds later, he placed it in a solution, set a timer, and then we just chatted.



The Bearer of News

Monday through Thursday, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., Anthony is there, in his office on The Alameda, testing person after person.

"I get to give a lot of good news," he said. "I also have a big responsibility when I have to say the other part."

Anthony still remembers the first time a session got emotional.

He once tested a patient, he told me, who just couldn't get past the possibility - "the possibility of being positive: how much he would lose, how much he would disappoint his family, the friends that might stop talking to him."

Anthony paused.

"It took 20 minutes for him to even wipe his gums," he said. "He almost couldn't go through with it."

He paused again.

Then told me that the patient tested negative. But still - for the first time ever during a counseling session - Anthony cried.

"That was the toughest one," he said.



The Risk Spectrum

Now, it's time to get out of the Stone Age and join the rest of us in the 21st century if you still believe that anal sex increases anybody's risk of contracting HIV.

The risky behavior is unprotected sex - in any hole.

Anthony needed to find out how risky my sexual behaviors were over the past two years. It would be a significant factor in deciding what I would do next should my test results be preliminarily positive.

So, he had to ask me a couple dozen questions about my history.

"I'm looking at your male partner behaviors," he said afterward, "and I really like that I see 'always' for condom use during anal receptive sex. The 'sometimes' for anal insertive - that's still a risk."

Images of my past lovers flooded my mind.

What if I had to call them? What would I say? What would they say?



Expiration date: 1977

As if federal law doesn't require that all blood donations be tested for HIV before use in medical treatments.

Nonetheless ...

The FDA-approved Donor History Questionnaire, Question 34, check yes or no: "From 1977 to the present, have you (male donors) had sexual contact with another male, even once?"

Yes?

Bam - donor deferred indefinitely.

That was quicker than my test results.



Press pound for more options

"I've finished all my documents," Anthony said, "and we're just waiting for a beep." He paused again. "So how do you feel now?"

Anthony checked on me several times throughout the whole process. He was good about that because it's kind of stressful - having to wait for a beep before you find out whether you're dying.

"HIV right now is not the same death sentence that it was," Anthony told me. "We have meds now that support your immune system, and you're just as healthy as ever. Just two or three pills a day."

Then the beeper went off, and Anthony stared at his testing supplies.

"It's negative," he said.

I smiled. I sighed.

My blood was not bad blood.



Good blood, boiling

When SJSU President Don Kassing banned blood drives on campus last week, he was sending a clear message - not that saving lives is unimportant to this university but that saving lives is just as important to this university as is the civilized, equal treatment of the gay community.

Yes, California has a shortage of blood - because too many eligible donors are too lazy to get off the couch. You can't blame Kassing for that.

What makes a deadly situation even worse is that thousands of gay men with perfectly good blood are disallowed from enacting an inherent civic duty for no good reason.

To any who would expend the kind of energy it takes to publicly condemn Kassing as he bravely defends my people's equality: Why not use it to step off campus and donate at a blood bank? At least you have the right.

Support Kassing. Gay blood is not bad blood.


Related Stories:
Feb. 7, 2008: Plot thickens in wake of blood drive suspension
Feb. 7, 2008: Where to donate blood off campus
Feb. 4, 2008: President halts blood drives; policy questioned
Jan. 30, 2008: Blood drives stopped
Feb. 4, 2008: Opinion: Making a deadly situation worse
Poll: Do you agree with SJSU's blood drive ban?

Other Links:
Letter from President Kassing
Other links from the President's office

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