Doctors say 's time to end ban on blood donatns om gay and bisexual men | GBH

Contents:

• I'M A GAY NURSE AND WAS BANNED FROM GIVG BLOOD
• FDA EAS BLOOD DONATN BAN ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN AFTER YEARS OF PROTT
• DOCTORS SAY 'S TIME TO END BAN ON BLOOD DONATNS OM GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• GAY MEN STILL FACE HURDL TO DONATE BLOOD AMID NATNAL SHORTAGE

I'M A GAY NURSE AND WAS BANNED FROM GIVG BLOOD

We are the middle of Pri month and is beg reported that at least 7 of the 2020 Democratic Printial ndidat are llg for an end to the policy that bans gay and bisexual men om donatg blood the Uned Stat.

"The one-year ferral perd for male blood donors who intify as gay and bisexual has nothg to do wh science or medice and everythg to do wh outdated stigmas agast the LGBTQ muny, " a spokperson for Beto O'Rourke's mpaign told The Inpennt.

He relentlsly protted to the Feral Government and was succsful changg the policy erng blood donatn by homosexual and bisexual men. ’ And she replied, ‘Bee you’re a gay male.

FDA EAS BLOOD DONATN BAN ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN AFTER YEARS OF PROTT

But wh some rearch, I found out the FDA had that policy place (permanently banng gay and bisexual mal donatg blood) sce 1983.

After 2 years of fightg to get our voic heard, the FDA, as of 2015, lifted the permanent ban on gay and bisexual mal on donatg blood. NB: So, while the FDA lifted the lifetime ban, there is still a ferral perd place that match all other blood donor ferrals – meang, a gay man, even myself, would need to practice abstence for 12 months before donatg blood. When Blake was turned away om donatg blood for his iend Emmy (who has sickle cell anemia) bee he is gay, he cid to do somethg about .

At first thought the FDA’s policy that bans gay men om donatg blood appears to discrimate agast a small mory of cizens. Those of who have been touched by the msage are donatg blood, not jt for all of those who are Banned4Life for beg gay, but rather for the dividuals who need the blood. Our missn is to raise awarens of the FDA’s policy that permanently bans gay men om donatg blood.

DOCTORS SAY 'S TIME TO END BAN ON BLOOD DONATNS OM GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

Banned4Life is not only about enuragg the FDA to revise the blood donatn policy on gay men, but to enurage those who are eligible to donate blood place of those who are Banned4Life.

We are an anizatn that hop to end the FDA’s current blood donor policy that bans gay men om donatg blood for life. Tell the FDA that their discrimatn of gay men om donatg blood affects ALL of .

In 2013, Nurse Blake started Banned4Life to end the permanent FDA gay blood ban, which ultimately ntributed to the lifetime ban beg lifted 2015.

GAY MEN STILL FACE HURDL TO DONATE BLOOD AMID NATNAL SHORTAGE

Gay and bisexual men monogamo relatnships will no longer be forced to absta om sex to donate blood unr feral guil announced Friday, endg a vtige of the earlit days of the AIDS proposed relaxatn of rtrictns by the Food and Dg Admistratn follows years of prsure by blood banks, the Amerin Medil Associatn and LGBT rights anizatns to abandon l some experts say are outdated, homophobic and effective at keepg the natn’s blood supply new approach elimat l that target men who have sex wh men and stead foc on sexual behavrs by people, regardls of genr, that pose a higher risk of ntractg and transmtg HIV. ”Other untri cludg Canada and the Uned Kgdom have ma siar chang recent s, gay men said they were ma to feel like pariahs as they were barred om performg a wily ld act of muny service, siled om jog iends and fay givg blood after natnal disasters.

”Technologil advancements blood screeng and a new FDA-fund study backg the proposed approach renred sweepg prohibns on sexually active gay and bisexual men moot, some experts said. Newly eligible donors probably would not be able to give blood until the end of the year or early next year while the FDA faliz chang and blood banks implement activists say gay men would still be treated unfairly unr the proposed guil, which would allow them to give blood if they had not had a new anal sexual partner the prr three is no exceptn for people takg daily pills that drastilly rce the risk of ntractg HIV, a landmark advancement that revolutnized preventn whout relyg on ndoms or abstence alone, bee the meditn n terfere wh the abily of screeng tts to tect HIV. “Beg monogamo wh someone who is not livg wh HIV is not the only way to prevent transmissn, ” said Jason Cianctto, vice print for munitns and public policy at Gay Men’s Health Crisis, a group that has advoted to end the blood donatn the AIDS epimic emerged the 1980s, thoands of people who received blood transfns beme fected before scientists realized that the HIV vis that ed the disease uld be transmted by FDA placed rtrictns on blood donatns by gay men, who had higher rat of HIV fectn bee the vis spreads more easily smaller sexual works and more efficiently durg anal sex than vagal sex.

”The FDA fund a study nducted between December 2020 and September 2022 by three of the natn’s largt nonprof blood centers — Valant, OneBlood and the Amerin Red Cross — to exame whether there are qutns provirs uld ask sexually active gay and bisexual men to terme a person’s risk donatg Cter, director of the Valant Rearch Instute and the study’s prcipal vtigator, cled to share the rults whout FDA approval but characterized them as promisg. “We are a very challengg time for the blood supply, ” Fry ’s unclear how much the new l would expand the blood supply, which would require a ncerted outreach mpaign to rm gay and bisexual men acctomed to be beg banned that they might now be eligible to crics say a three-month wag perd, mirrorg other Wtern untri, is still overly strgent bee of advancements ttg that allow for HIV to be tected Hoylman-Sigal, an openly gay Democratic senator the New York legislature, said any ferral “ntu to foster stigma around men who have sex wh men. ”“They need to pletely get rid of any semblance of rtrictns on gay men donatg blood, ” Hoylman-Sigal reason for the three-month ferral perd, acrdg to Khanlwal Canada, is that ttg for blood-borne vis, which clu hepatis B and C as well as HIV, “is not perfect.