Your kidneys are failing. Fuck. You spend your days hooked up to a dialysis machine. The contraption of tubes and fluids filters your blood from impurities as your health perilously teeters on the edge of collapse. The doctors tell you they’re having problems finding a match. Life is shitty. So you wait for a donor. And you wait some more. 

And then Health Canada has the audacity to defy anatomy and tell you that 

Then tragically a young man dies. He’s a likely candidate for a match, but they won’t give you his kidney. 

Not because his kidney is already spoken for. 

Not because his kidney is failing. 

Not because his kidney is of a different race.

No, it’s because he’s gay?

A Health Canada regulation that bans most gay men from donating organs is scientifically unjustified, virtually unenforceable and could worsen critical transplant shortages, a prominent Toronto AIDS doctor says.The regulation, which took effect in December and closely resembles blood-donor guidelines, prohibits organ donations from sexually active gay men, intravenous drug users and hepatitis victims.Both strictures are unfair to thousands of conscientious gays, says Dr. Philip Berger, head of family and community medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Full Article -> Toronto Star 

Although I firmly believe this legislation’s intentions are heavily influenced by homophobia, there is no denying Health Canada’s stance on precaution. However, I do not agree with banishing an entire donor segment due to sexual orientation. That’s like boldly making the statement that all Muslim people are terrorists. Therefore we should no longer let any practicing Muslims into Canada? Thankfully the world doesn’t work like that, except for today, and quite frankly, this is a low point for Canada.

Hopefully these facts have been drastically taken out of context and that the government exercises more tact when announcing a shift in legislation such as this issue. Nonetheless, if it’s purely a case of some homophobic politician who fears he’ll potentially turn gay after a heart transplant, well, might as well close the border while you’re at it.