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COVER STORY
UNHAPPY ENCOUNTER: School board member Bill
Mathias (left) and a gay, former Lake County student, Adam Mathias (no relation). argue after the board’s decision to table a vote that would have allowed GSA in the districts’ middle schools. PHOTO BY DAVID MORAN
Lake County School Board tables GSA vote David Moran DAVID@WATERMARKONLINE.COM
T
AVERES | Applause and booing �illed the Lake County School Board chamber when its members voted 4-1 to table discussion on whether or not to allow 14-year old Bayli Silberstein to form a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at her middle school. More than 300 people showed up at the meeting, many donning the color red in support of Silberstein. She and her family left the meeting in a somber mood after the vote got tabled. “I’m disappointed. I am really angry…I’m going to keep �ighting,” said Silberstein. Silberstein’s mom, Erica, called the School Board “bullies” for tabling the issue. “I wish that I could tell her that everything is �ine,” Erica Silberstein said. “This is what is needed and they are going to do it, but I can’t and it makes me mad.” The delay was sparked by a recent change Senate Bill 1076, which will go into effect July 1 and potentially no longer requires Florida middle schools to adhere to the federal Equal Access Act, which protects student’s rights to organize clubs in secondary schools. Governor Rick Scott signed the bill into law on April 22, the same day of the school board meeting. Two Lake County school board members, Bill Matthias and Todd Howard, have admitted to lobbying for that law change. Continued on page 10 | |
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watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.
BANNED TOGETHER: Blake Lynch created Banned4Life to fight the FDA’s ban on blood donations by gay men. He was turned away from donating blood directly to his friend Emmy Derisbrun.
PHOTO COURTESY BRETT DONNELLEY
Banned For Life An Orlando nursing student �ights the ban on gay men donating blood Shannon Scheidell
WATERMARK@WATERMARKONLINE.COM
O
RLANDO | All Blake Lynch wanted to do was help his friend. But he was quickly denied the opportunity, just because he’s gay. When Lynch, a nursing student, learned his classmate Emmy Derisbrun needed regular blood transfusions to battle sickle cell anemia, he knew there was one simple way he could help—donate blood directly to her. “When I heard about her sickle cell I started looking up places to donate,” Lynch said. He completed a 54-question screening application and was surprised when the nurse asked him if he was sure about one of his answers— the one asking about sexual encounters with other men. “When I went to donate, they
APRIL 25 - MAY 8, 2013 // ISSUE 20.09
actually turned me away,” Lynch said. The experience motivated Lynch to battle the Food and Drug Administration’s ban on gay men donating blood, which has been in place since 1983. That ban, along with a ban on donations by those who have received a tattoo within a year of the donation date, was imposed in response to the AIDS epidemic. Lynch started the non-pro�it Banned4Life, a movement to remove the ban on blood donations by MSM (Men who have Sex with Men). The ban on gay male donors is antiquated, Lynch said, and blood shortages are so low that the ban causes more harm than good. It prevents others from donating as well. “Banned4Life is not only about encouraging the FDA to revise the blood donation policy on gay men,” said Derisbrun. “We want to encourage those who are healthy
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and able to donate blood.” Lynch, 21, believes that blood donation is an issue for his generation. A 2006 study by the Red Cross, which supports removing the FDA-imposed ban, showed that only 38% of the nation is eligible to give blood, yet 5 million people require transfusions each year. “Especially after the Boston tragedy, there is such an extreme shortage of blood, we need all the help we can get,” said Lynch. In 1983 there were no adequate tests to detect whether HIV was present in donated blood, and HIV found its way into the nation’s blood supply. Hemophiliacs receiving blood transfusions showed symptoms of AIDS. What scientists also knew was that a disproportionate number of gay men were affected by the virus. To eliminate risk, the FDA added a screening question to the federal guidelines. Blood banks were instructed to ask male donors if they had had sex with a man, even once, since 1977. The FDA regards 1977 as the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the United States. If the