Ok so the other day there was a blood drive here. Not something I'm overly fond of as I'm scared to death of needles, but I visited with Eilen from Sweden while she was donating. They gave her four huge bags to fill with blood, needles and all, to hold while she waited for her turn. That there was enough for me to run away! Donating blood is so important but if I was to donate blood here it would be a very very long time before I would be able to donate again in the states. As it is I will have to wait three YEARS before I am allowed to donate again, this is mainly because the risk of the disease malaria, and since I have technically 'lived' in a malarial region I can't donate for a while.
While discussing this subject we got onto the topic of how homosexual men aren't allowed to donate. It's a really awful situation here for anyone gay/lesbian/bisexual/transexual etc.. homosexuality is illegal in this country and the people are hugely intolerant of it. I was thinking that maybe the students at the university would have a more progessive view, but when talking with some they only discussed the huge hatred they have in their hearts for those type of people. When I told them at home gay marriage is becoming legal in more and more states they were truly shocked. I see the amazing support system Wheaton has among the gay/lesbian community and know that it is still really difficult for those people when attempting to figure things out for themselves and then come out in a mainly tolerant environment. I can only imagine how hard it must be for young people here to deal with those same issues when all around them the only message is hatred. It's pretty crazy.
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