There are days when I wake up and feel like I could touch the sky with my fingertips and others where try as I might, I cannot leave the safety of my bed. Today was one of those days where the latter feeling took precedence and, boy oh boy, was I proven right. With every passing day, I despair more about the wisdom of allowing people to comment under articles or better yet the logic behind the way many local decisions are made.

The first contender for facepalm of the week was the announcement that gay men who wish to donate blood will have to forgo sex for an entire year before performing this act of civic duty. I don’t know how the good authorities plan to ascertain whether or not the abstinence period has been adhered to, but let’s not get bogged down with ‘minor details’ when there are so many other elements to debate.

I want to start by saying that I understand very well the price of transfusing blood infected with anything, but what I won’t stand for is institutionalised ignorance.

Gay, straight, bisexual or unicorn, every single person giving blood should be tested upon donation

Gay, straight, bisexual or unicorn, every single person giving blood should be tested upon donation, using simple, effective instant kits, for HIV as well as for other illnesses that may be transmitted through transfusion.

Not only is it ridiculous that the authorities do not apply the same parameters to straight people who give blood, but it is also counterintuitive. Some of the most promiscuous people I have ever known are straight and while most of them probably haven’t tried to give blood, it seems somewhat ludicrous to me that their blood would be considered to be more of a viable option than their gay counterparts, many of whom enjoy stable monogamous relationships.

I’m not saying that the time frames in place between the last sexual activity and giving blood should be abolished (they exist for a very valid reason), but if you’re going to do that, do that with everyone, not just gay men.

The second contender started with the heartbreaking story of a transgender woman who was allegedly attacked while waiting for her bus home. After being verbally and physically abused she posted about her ordeal online and, lo and behold, received even more abuse.

Indeed, a scroll down one particular thread was enough to make me want to go home, build a bomb in my basement and blow up the entire world. Not only were some people questioning the veracity of what she said, but we even had others openly asking what she had done to deserve it as if it were the most normal thing in the world to have someone you don’t know dragging you by the hair on a sunny afternoon.

It also appears that some might be suffering from selective amnesia and have never seen or heard the disgusting, derogatory comments that many gay and transgender people are called on a daily basis. Then again, when you have people openly claiming that climate change is a hoax when tonnes of ice melted over the weekend, there’s not much else to say.

Day after day after day some new, fresh hell is presented and although it’s hard for me to accept that people were more interested in the Prime Minister’s tattoo than how others are being treated, that is unfortunately where we’re at this stage of our advanced evolution.

Guys, it’s almost 2020, don’t you think that it’s time we got things a little more together?