Our Blood Can Save
The Major R. Owens Health & Wellness Community Center, Brooklyn, NY
Text by Theodore (ted) Kerr for What Would an HIV Doula Do?
Since 1983 - amid the early days of the AIDS epidemic - gay and bisexual men have been prohibited by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from donating blood in the US. Now, during a national blood shortage, due to the COVID-19 crisis, people are calling for that decision to be reversed.
From the beginning, scientists and activists have been working to lift the ban, marshalling evidence to show that it does not make sense, puts lives at risk, and creates further stigma for all men who have sex with men and their communities. As part of the ongoing advocacy, artists have been providing inspiration and sharing information, including Jordan Eagles who has been using blood as a medium since the late 1990’s.
For Our Blood Can Save, Eagles builds on the work that has been done to lift the ban, as well as the history of The Major R. Owens Health & Wellness Community Center as a once active armory and the current home for the Brooklyn Community Pride Center. Upon entry, viewers are immersed in Illuminations, patterns and shadows of illuminated blood projected from a series of panels made by Eagles using donated blood from gay, bisexual, and queer men that could have been used to save lives but would be rejected due to the current policy. Looking up, viewers see a projection of a vintage WWII graphic soliciting blood donation, layered with blood donated by an active U.S. Service Member who identifies as transgender and pansexual. It was during WWII that blood storage was invented by Dr. Charles R. Drew, a Black surgeon and researcher, who would later distance himself from his life saving contribution in protest of the racial segregation of blood, a practice that eventually ended in 1950.
As viewers make their way through the exhibition, they are invited to consider how the current blood ban and national blood shortage fit into the longer history of blood in the US, including exclusionary donation and segregation practices that exacerbate suffering during times of war and pandemic. What does it take to change policy? Fear during one pandemic caused the ban. Will it take another pandemic to end it?
A blood drive, with New York Blood Center, was held inside Brooklyn Community Pride Center.
Community Partners: GMHC, Blood Equality, University Blood Initiative, What Would an HIV Doula Do?
