An Indiana man is suing a blood bank for operating with broken "gaydar."
Aaron Pace, who says he's straight, claims he was barred from donating blood at Bio-Blood Components in Gary, Ind., after a screener told him he acted like he was gay.
"I was humiliated and embarrassed," Pace, 22, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
"It's not right that homeless people can give blood but homosexuals can't. And I'm not even a homosexual."
Pace visited the center earlier this month, hoping to pocket an easy $40 for a blood and plasma donation.
He suspects the staff member shot him down because he has an effeminate voice and manner.
"She said, 'I'm sorry, but it's the way that you act and appear to be,'" he told ABC News.
Pace said on Tuesday that he plans to sue the bank for sexual-orientation discrimination.
Bio-Blood Components didn't return a call for comment from the Daily News.
The Food and Drug Administration has a nearly 30-year-old policy that bars gay men and women from donating blood.
The policy was created in 1983, sparked by fears that HIV could contaminate the nation's blood supply.
Today, donated blood is tested for HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis and other diseases.
Gay rights and health advocates jumped to Pace's defense.
"It is unfair, outrageous and just plain stupid," Curt Ellis, former director of T
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/07/19/2011-07-19_straight_man_suing_blood_bank_said_it_barred_him_from_donating_blood_because_he_.html#ixzz1SaDUTXYK
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