As a Gay Man, a Red Cross Study Allowed Me to Donate Blood for the First Time

Contents:

• FDA LNCH STUDY THAT ULD LEAD TO REMOVAL OF RTRICTNS ON BLOOD DONATNS BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• GIVG BLOOD HAS BEEN OFF LIMS FOR MANY GAY MEN. A NEW STUDY ULD HELP CHANGE THAT
• I'M A GAY MAN AND HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO DONATE BLOOD DUE TO THE FDA BAN. I WAS PART OF THE RED CROSS STUDY THAT WILL HELP OVERTURN THAT.
• ADVANCE STUDY ON DONATN ELIGIBILY REQUIREMENTS FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• NEW BLOOD DONATN RUL TO LOOSEN RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• BIN ADMISTRATN SPEAKS OUT ON FERAL BLOOD DONATN POLICY IMPACTG GAY MEN AMID NATNAL BLOOD SHORTAGE
• NEW STUDY COULD HELP GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN DONATE BLOOD EQUALLY
• UTAH’S ARUP BLOOD SERVIC TO EASE RTRICTNS ON GAY, BISEXUAL MALE DONORS
• BLOOD DONATN BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• GAY MEN STILL FACE HURDL TO DONATE BLOOD AMID NATNAL SHORTAGE

FDA LNCH STUDY THAT ULD LEAD TO REMOVAL OF RTRICTNS ON BLOOD DONATNS BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

S., the Red Cross, along wh One Blood, Valant and partner LGBTQ+ muny health centers, are participatg a pilot study fund by the FDA select ci that uld potentially lead to chang for blood donor eligibily creria for gay and bisexual men. Together, the LGBTQ+ muny, blood centers and the FDA are llaboratg to terme if a blood donor history qutnnaire based on dividual risk would be an acceptable alternative to a time-based ferral rcg the risk of HIV among gay and bisexual men who prent to donate blood. The study will clu gay and bisexual men who are terted donatg blood, and who have had sex wh at least one other man the three months before jog the study.

Why n’t gay and bisexual men other ci participate?

GIVG BLOOD HAS BEEN OFF LIMS FOR MANY GAY MEN. A NEW STUDY ULD HELP CHANGE THAT

The FDA is sharg new tails on a study 's fundg that uld lead to the removal of longtime rtrictns around blood donatns by gay or bisexual first-of-s-kd pilot study aims to gather and prent data to the FDA for review by late 2021, ABC News has learned exclively. A change this FDA policy would mean that more gay and bisexual men would be able to give blood the U. The mandate, based solely on sexual preference, required all gay and bisexual men to absta om sex wh men for three months before beg eligible to give new creria, hailed as "landmark change, " acrdg to Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hanck, will stead foc on dividualized risk-based asssments.

Policy holds that sexually active gay or bisexual men mt absta om sex for at least three months before they're allowed to donate blood, matchg Bra's prev policy. The le appli to gay and bisexual men who are monogamo, tt HIV-negative and are practicg safe sex, as well as to gay and bisexual COVID-19 survivors who wish to donate nvalcent rtrictn on blood donatns me out of the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s, when limed ttg technology existed to screen blood for HIV.

I'M A GAY MAN AND HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO DONATE BLOOD DUE TO THE FDA BAN. I WAS PART OF THE RED CROSS STUDY THAT WILL HELP OVERTURN THAT.

Marchers on a Gay Pri para through Manhattan, New York Cy, rry a banner which reads 'A. Barbara Alper/Getty ImagThat existed until 2015, when the FDA removed the lifetime ban and enacted a 12-month ferral perd, meang gay or bisexual men had to absta om havg sex wh other men for at least 12 months before donatg the COVID-19 crisis and lls om the surgeon general for healthy Amerins to give blood and avert shortag, the FDA April revised down the 12-month perd to three ADVANCE study will clu about 2, 000 men who've had sex wh men and wish to donate blood and "uld generate data that will help the FDA terme if a donor qutnnaire based on dividual risk asssment would be as effective as time-based ferrals rcg the risk of HIV, " the FDA said.

San Stramer, vice print of scientific affairs at the Red Cross, add: "If the scientific evince supports the e of addnal qutns, uld mean that gay and bisexual men who prent to donate would be asssed based on their own dividualized risk of HIV fectn and not acrdg to when their last enunter wh another man occurred. Blood donatn polici for gay and bisexual men, and other LGBTQ people, are outdated, out of le wh science, and mt change to be based on dividual asssments rather than discrimatory blanket bans. Now the 38-year-old was a donatn center for the first time years, this time as part of a study that uld lead to the changg of a feral le that has angered and alienated gay men such as him.

“It’s tratg not beg able to help when I’m a healthy donor, ” said Goldste, a blogy profsor who has been a monogamo relatnship wh his hband for more than a who have sex wh men have long faced rtrictns on givg blood the Uned Stat, amid ncerns about the disproportnate toll of HIV/AIDS on gay and bisexual men.

ADVANCE STUDY ON DONATN ELIGIBILY REQUIREMENTS FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

Des ago, as AIDS began vastatg gay muni, the Food and Dg Admistratn advised blood centers to prohib any man who had had sex wh another man sce 1977 — even once — om FDA, which regulat blood banks, has eased the l somewhat recent years. But gay and bisexual men are still eligible to donate if they have had sex wh another man the last three feral l have long drawn protts om physicians, policians and activists who nounce them as outdated and stigmatizg.

Many were pecially upset after a mass shootg at the gay nightclub Pulse Orlando, Fla., when gay men were turned away om givg blood to help the wound. Gay men monogamo relatnships are generally barred, but “what about straight men who are havg unprotected sex wh women or engagg other risky behavr?

NEW BLOOD DONATN RUL TO LOOSEN RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

”Now blood banks are seekg out gay and bisexual men ci cludg Los Angel, Miami and Memphis for the Advance Study, which aims to fd out whether askg would-be donors about risky behavrs — such as havg sex whout a ndom — uld be a safe alternative to screeng out all men who have recently had sex wh men. (Gabriella Angotti-Jon / Los Angel Tim) The Red Cross and two other blood centers — Valant and OneBlood — are now enrollg sexually active gay and bisexual men the ferally fund study, askg them about risky behavrs, then llectg and ttg their blood for HIV. “When I grew up, was very clear that as a boy, beg gay was the worst thg you uld be.

The only exampl of gay people were people dyg of AIDS, ” Goldste said. Sce then, “I’ve watched the world change around me” — cludg legal regnn for his marriage and gay upl livg happily on televisn and barred om givg blood, Goldste said, seems “totally out of step wh where we are. “It’s hard to overstate how strong the impact of that terrible time was on blood banks, ” said Arthur Caplan, director of the divisn of medil ethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medice, who opposed the lifetime lifetime ban was first eased six years ago, but only for gay and bisexual men who had not had sex wh another man for at least a year — a le that effectively ntued to bar gay men if they were at all sexually active.

BIN ADMISTRATN SPEAKS OUT ON FERAL BLOOD DONATN POLICY IMPACTG GAY MEN AMID NATNAL BLOOD SHORTAGE

” New HIV fectns have fallen signifintly sce the 1980s, but gay, bisexual and other men who have sex wh men — dubbed “MSM” feral guidance — are still h harst by the vis natnwi. In Los Angel County, nearly 80% of people livg wh HIV are gay and bisexual men, acrdg to the unty partment of public health. Wh the natn’s blood supply at s lowt pot a , and the Amerin Red Cross clarg s first-ever natnal blood crisis earlier this month, is time for the Food and Dg Admistratn (FDA) to do somethg the AMA and others have urged for years: remove s discrimatory ban that prevents many gay and bisexual men om beg blood donors.

The existg ban requir gay or bisexual men to absta om sex for a mimum of three months before they n donate blood. The roots of limatns agast gay and bisexual blood donors date back to the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s.

In high school, I uldn't donate blood like the rt of my peers bee I'm gay. For years, I wanted to donate, but the FDA's ban on gay men donatg blood stood my way.

NEW STUDY COULD HELP GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN DONATE BLOOD EQUALLY

But the study I signed up for required only six Red Cross-sponsored Advance study llected blood om 1, 600 gay and bisexual men across the US.

As a gay man, I was barred om donatg blood all my life until I signed up for the Advance study. I was first barred om donatg blood high schoolGrowg up a Los Angel school, I was fortably, proudly, and illtrly gay — my teenage md, at least.

UTAH’S ARUP BLOOD SERVIC TO EASE RTRICTNS ON GAY, BISEXUAL MALE DONORS

I didn't want to expla that gay blood was emed unworthy of donatn. I wasn't angry that I was beg discrimated agast; I was angry bee I had blood to give — blood that I wanted to give — and wasn't able to bee of an illegimate policy rooted Reagan-era homophobia. This year, the FDA proposed a plan that would elimate the time lims and allow monogamo gay men to donate.

Fally, I got to give blood as a proud gay manAt the Pasana Red Cross Blood, Platelet and Plasma Donatn Center, I was led to a private room the back. By now maybe you’ve heard the excg news: The Amerin Red Cross has partnered wh the FDA and several other blood centers for the ADVANCE Study, an opportuny to gather data that uld lead to chang donor eligibily requirements to be more clive for gay and bisexual men and members of the LGBTQ+ muny. Said the new guil would be more clive and were based on a review of data om other Fremson/The New York TimThe Food and Dg Admistratn plans to revise a longstandg policy that exclud most gay and bisexual men om blood donatn, stead adoptg an approach that will screen donors pendg on their recent sexual activy, agency officials said on move follows years of cricism om L.

BLOOD DONATN BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

Feral officials have long jtified the excln of gay and bisexual men as a way to keep H.

GAY MEN STILL FACE HURDL TO DONATE BLOOD AMID NATNAL SHORTAGE

In 2015, the agency allowed gay and bisexual men to donate if they had not had sexual ntact wh other men for the prev perd was rced to three months after severe blood shortag durg the Covid-19 F. Said the agency’s proposal was an important step forward that would enable him — a gay married man — and many others to perform an important public service.

Said the new approach would be genr-clive — the screeng would also apply to women who have sex wh gay and bisexual men — and would foc on dividual risk, not blanket prohibns on groups.