Muted Reaction to Gay Organ Donor Ban?

Okay, now this is getting ridiculous. The "homosexuality as pestilence" trope is becoming more and more ingrained in certain quarters. Kudos to QueerDay for bringing this story to my attention. Corrente and Pam Spaulding has also covered it, but I don't quite understand why this story has not reached that much "play" in the blogosphere. The facts of the situation are uncontested. An openly gay man named Albert Soto died in Tucson, AZ of a massive stroke on November 26. He was a generous person, and an organ donor. But his organs were refused for donation.

One response to the Soto story has been from the Donor Network of Arizona:

"The criteria for tissue and eye donation
is a federal regulation enforced by the
Food and Drug Administration. Federal
regulations preclude recovery of tissue
from potential donors who may have
engaged in male-to-male sexual contact
within the preceding five years, as well
as from donors with other medical risk
factors."

Please note this is not about HIV or AIDS. Soto was HIV negative. This about the fact that the Federal government is equating homosexual sex (male-to-male sexual contact, in their parlance) with infection. I believe this is a reflection of institutional and medical homophobia. And, as a friend of mine wrote earlier this week, homophobia can have deadly consequences.