Long cricized as discrimatory, the policy has prevented many gay and bisexual men om donatg blood. The Food and Dg Admistratn revealed a draft of s new approach on Friday.
Contents:
- END OF BLANKET RTRICTN ON GAY BLOOD DONORS TO FACE KEY FERAL VOTE NEXT YEAR
- IT’S LONG PAST TIME TO END THE FDA’S GAY BLOOD BAN
- SCIENCE, POLICS, AND THE END OF THE LIFELONG GAY BLOOD DONOR BAN
- MORE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN WILL NOW BE ABLE TO DONATE BLOOD UNR FALIZED FDA L
END OF BLANKET RTRICTN ON GAY BLOOD DONORS TO FACE KEY FERAL VOTE NEXT YEAR
Gay men still not eligible to donate blood. Study lls on gay men to donate blood effort to reasss FDA rtrictns.
A panel of feral advisers uld vote early next year on new remendatns about the natn's blood supply, the Bin admistratn says, one of the key fal hurdl to endg a sweepg feral ban on blood donatns om sexually active gay men. The vote expected at the sprg meetg of the Advisory Commtee on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availabily (ACBTSA) would e after the panel is able to review forthg data om the Food and Dg Admistratn's ADVANCE FDA announced last week that now thks the study's rults "will likely support" replacg the blanket ban, which currently requir gay men to absta om sex for at least three months before donatg blood. If the mtee next year backs liftg the rtrictns, the move would mark one of the last steps to undog a ntroversial policy, first troduced the 1980s and endorsed by the panel as recently as 2010, which had imposed a lifetime ban on gay men donatg blood.
Incredibly, regulatns put place durg the gay panic that characterized the emergence of HIV/AIDS are still spirually place today — and if the natn’s regulatory bodi are ser about endg this blood crisis, the first people they should be lookg to is queer 1986, followg years of polil prsure om all sis of the Amerin polil spectm, the FDA officially began ferrg cisgenr men who had had sex wh another man (MSM) om blood donatn, wh the ban place if they’d had gay sex om 1977 onward.
IT’S LONG PAST TIME TO END THE FDA’S GAY BLOOD BAN
In 1992, mandatory guil stuted a lifetime ban for gay men. In the meantime, heterosexual people who have equent unprotected sex are still seen as safer blood donors on paper than any given gay or bi man who is a monogamo legacy of gay panic that prompted the ial bans the 1980s, when HIV/AIDS was still assumed to be a disease uniquely plagug the gay male muny, is still very much alive the “progrsive” half measur.
It’s an sult that misterprets the real reason HIV/AIDS is still so prevalent the LGBTQ+ muny — ’s not that gay sex is more prone to STI transmissn than straight sex, but that gay men were left to die by unrg stutns for s, and that gay Black and Late men livg poverty today don’t have as much accs to meditns like PrEP as their more affluent whe and straight two dozen lawmakers urged the FDA to update “s discrimatory blood donor ferral polici for men who have sex wh men. But a review of the history surroundg the s-old “lifelong ban” on gay men donatg blood mak clear that far more was at 1983, almost a year before HIV was intified as the etlogic e of AIDS, and 2 years before the licensure of the antibody screeng tt signed to tect fectn, polil prsure began mountg to prohib “high risk” donors om donatg anizatns jt g to grips wh a new threat to the survival of their muni were ncerned that an explic ban on blood donatns by gay men would add to stigmatizatn and homophobic attus.
SCIENCE, POLICS, AND THE END OF THE LIFELONG GAY BLOOD DONOR BAN
Gays were not alone, however, qutng the wisdom of an exclnary policy that might have a negative effect on the “aquacy” of the blood supply. ” as he also mand that those who were reluctant to take actn do so this ntext of fear, the US Public Health Service issued s first, utly word, exclnary remendatns on March 4, 1983: “Sexually active homosexual and bisexual men wh multiple partners” should rea om blood donatn.
MORE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN WILL NOW BE ABLE TO DONATE BLOOD UNR FALIZED FDA L
But even those words were most parison wh the 1986 feral regulatns that banned all gay men om donatg 1985, the prospects for securg the safety of the blood supply were radilly improved wh the licensure of an assay that uld intify HIV antibodi.
Given the scientific evince, they asked what jtified barrg gay men om donatg blood for life while feral policy imposed only a 1-year excln for those wh a recent tattoo or ear piercg; those who had had sexual ntact wh a person wh hepatis, syphilis, or gonorrhea; those who had had sex wh anyone who had ever ed needl to take dgs; a man who had had sex wh a prostute; or a man who had had sexual ntact wh a female who had had sexual ntact wh a man who had had sex wh another man. Further, the existg lifetime ban ntu to perpetuate accurate stereotyp agast gay and bisexual men, and fosters an atmosphere that promot discrimatn. ”4 In state after state, bans on gay marriage had fallen.
A year later, the HHS Advisory Commtee voted to embrace a new policy endg the 28-year-old lifetime excln of gay blood donors, th settg the stage for Commissner Hamburg’s year-end announcement.