“I was just thinking that there was a need for blood,” Davidson said. “I usually don’t give blood when asked to because I don’t like to lie. Right now they have an excess, but at the time we didn’t know that.”

Further posts to the list both castigated and supported Davidson.

One group member wrote that Davidson “should be embarassed by [his] behavior, particularly during this time of crisis.”

But another said that he found the Red Cross excluding people because they were gay “reprehensible.”

“I’ve lied about my sexuality in the past to donate when appropriate, and will do so in the future,” the member said. “But I’m also a very responsible, HIV [negative], STD free, monogamous fag.”

Another member wrote that only after people knew their HIV status could they “have the privilege of making the personal moral decision of lying to help people in need.”

Many BOND members criticized the science behind the Red Cross’s decision to screen out the gay population.

“The policy made much more sense in the early 1980s when HIV was less understood,” Davidson said. “Now it is known that HIV status depends on many factors other than sexual preference.”

Davidson said he would still have pushed send on his original posting if given the chance again.

“Especially given the discussion that resulted,” he said.

Officials at the Red Cross were unavailable for comment this afteroon.

—Staff writer Zachary R. Heineman can be reached at heineman@fas.harvard.edu.