Complaint alleges discrimination over gender identity
A transgender woman has filed a complaint under San Antonio’s nondiscrimination ordinance after she says a local plasma donation center disqualified her from giving blood because of her gender identity. Nicole Throckmorton, 33, claims that Biotest Plasma Center “permanently deferred” her from donating “solely on the basis of being transgender,” according to her complaint to the city. It also said Biotest Pharmaceuticals Corp., which runs the center, refused to clarify its policy about trans individuals who want to donate. The city’s ordinance protects individuals from being discriminated against in places of public accommodation based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Biotest did not respond Wednesday to requests for comment. A copy of Throckmorton’s complaint, provided by her lawyer, included a written response from Biotest’s vice president and general counsel dated Sept. 10, indicating the company was investigating the matter. The city attorney’s office said it is reviewing the complaint and the situation’s applicability to the nondiscrimination ordinance. Throckmorton’s attorney, Justin Nichols, wrote in the complaint that “Biotest’s refusal or inability to confirm whether it has a policy outright barring transgender persons from donating is a glaring indication it is unwilling to be forthright and transparent about its business practices as it related to discrimination.” Throckmorton, who moved to San Antonio several months ago, said she visited the center near Park North Shopping Center on Aug. 18. After undergoing physical tests and filling out a questionnaire, she said she told an employee she was trans and asked whether starting hormone replacement therapy would interfere with her ability to donate.
She said she was told the clinic had a policy against allowing trans women to donate. Shocked, she said she left on the verge of tears. “I didn’t feel like I was normal at all because of that,” Throckmorton said in an interview Wednesday. “If I were normal, I would have been able to donate like anyone else. It made me feel worthless, like I wasn’t worth giving my plasma to help anyone.” For years, gay men were largely prevented from donating blood, a federal policy established during the HIV/AIDS epidemic to reduce transmission of the disease. In December 2015 the Food and Drug Administration revised its recommendations for blood donors to allow men who had not had sex with other men for the past 12 months to be eligible for donation. The FDA also recommended “male or female gender should be self-identified and self-reported for the purpose of blood donation,” according to its website. Nichols said Throckmorton met the FDA requirements for donation, including not having slept with a man within the past year. He said there was “no public health interest in denying transgender people from donating.” “On one hand you have the law and science supporting one process, and you have a company playing cowboy, wanting to enact old and outdated policies that have been concluded to be damaging and unnecessary to the LGBT community,” he said.