Is Male Homosexuality Still a Cultural Taboo for Kidney Donation?

Abstract 

Background

Among the so-called social risk behaviors, male homosexuality is probably one of the most interesting and difficult taboos. Because of changing attitudes of the general population toward irregular sexual behaviors, often considered as markers of unhealthy life styles, there is a need to reconsider at least the most important one—homosexuality.

Methods

A semistructured questionnaire included opinions on homosexuality with respect to kidney donation: Would you consider a male homosexual as a kidney donor? If you were on dialysis, would you accept a kidney from a homosexual donor? This instrument was administered to various groups of the general public and caregivers: high school students (Liceo Classico: 59 students, median age 18 years; Istituto Tecnico: n = 108, median age 17); first and fourth year of medical school (n = 77, age 19; 46, age 22); continuing medical education (n = 44, age 32); third year of nursing school (n = 31, age 23); “senior citizen university” (n = 51, age 63).

Results

Male homosexuality was well accepted for kidney donation (71.6% yes, 9.6% no, 18.8% uncertain/blank). However, the opinions were different among the groups with male students of a technical institute showing discrimination against male homosexuals. In the univariate analysis, opinions differed according to age, gender, and belonging to the health care team. In the multivariate analysis, the latter was the strongest predictor (P < .01). The specific threats for the health are not well known, even among the caregiver population.

Conclusion

It is difficult to define the role of homosexuality among the so-called social risk behaviors. Negative attitudes existed in some subsets of the population.