I'm buried in work, more coming every minute...

[moominmuppet]

But I'm so pissed I need to vent for a minute first.

Just got back from donating blood. Now need to deal with a mass of calls (we're having a hellday), simultaneously with calling the Red Cross to complain about professionalism (joking homophobia between two workers right over my head)
m: Oh dear, that is very much not good.
No. really not. Something about teens today, and some sort of homophobic comments about "they're all rubbing on each other, and can't decide whether they're boys or girls" and something about same-sex pairings said right over my head, loudly (I didn't hear the whole conversation, but enough for it to read as very homophobic and particularly nasty to anyone outside the typical mainstream gender boundaries). I was starting to get angry enough to say something just as they called my name. The only day I've regretted the lack of line at a drive.
I tried pursuing it there, with the employee I say down with, who was unfortunately foreign-born and a bit baffled, and kept telling me "It's ok, it's ok", and then with the woman working admissions as I was leaving. Neither had a clue how to cope, except to tell me to call the main office, although the woman at the desk said she'd heard it too, and she's sorry that was my experience. Main office transferred me to VM. I'd damn well better hear back. I'm still mad about giving blood under those circumstances. If it weren't life-or-death for some person totally unrelated to that shit, I would've walked right the fuck out (also my logic behind not boycotting them over their totally fucked blanket ban on gay and bisexual men, although I try to bring it up often).

Edit: Well-handled by the main office. She apologized profusely, and said it would be thoroughly addressed at the upcoming inservice. Didn't give her names -- this isn't about vengeance, it's about improving the situation in the future, and reminding all their staff that they don't know who their donors are, and shouldn't make assumptions.

Comments

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the staff wouldn't have made jokes about queer people had they actually known there were queer people present, but that doesn't make it any better, of course. Good for you for bringing it up.

[moominmuppet.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the staff wouldn't have made jokes about queer people had they actually known there were queer people present

Oh, I'm sure they wouldn't. And I specifically said to all three people I talked to "As a queer woman...", in case they weren't getting it, either. I'm actually glad I was there. It's handy to be the "out and vocal" one when this kind of shit goes on, because it's relatively easy for me to try to do something about it.

[chameleonpixie.livejournal.com]

Thank you for speaking up about it.

I can't donate blood because of the whole I've had sex with men who've had sex with men thing.

Perhaps I could just not mention that fact, but it really pisses me off that they have that in place still.

They talk about a blood crisis . . . that they need more. Why not take it from people who want to give instead of being discriminating?

[moominmuppet.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I could just not mention that fact, but it really pisses me off that they have that in place still.

Yup, that's be the homophobic blanket ban I'm talking about in one of my asides up there.

There have been some fascinating conversations in the community about the relative ethics of how to handle that. Often, it's not the case that I've technically fallen into those criteria within the past year, in which case I can honestly donate (if you're female, current policy is that it has to have happened in the past year to disqualify you). However, given what I know about my own testing and safer sex practices, I reserve the right to lie to them, because it matters more to me to get what I know to be clean blood (and less risky than that of plenty of promiscuous but less safe straight people) to people who need it.

[jajy1979.livejournal.com]

*groan* What asshats. I'm glad you called their bosses and set things straight. That kind of shit doesn't need to happen, anywhere.

[corivax.livejournal.com]

Thanks for calling.