FDA to make easier for gay and bisexual men to donate blood : Shots - Health News : NPR

Contents:

• LETTG GAY MEN DONATE BLOOD COULD HELP SOLVE A MAJOR HEALTH CRISIS
• BANNED FOR LIFE: WHY GAY MEN STILL N'T DONATE BLOOD
• WHY SO MANY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN N’T DONATE BLOOD THE U.S.
• MORE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN WILL NOW BE ABLE TO DONATE BLOOD UNR FALIZED FDA L
• DISCRIMATN STILL KEEPS MANY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN FROM DONATG BLOOD
• FDA'S REVISED BLOOD DONATN GUIDANCE FOR GAY MEN STILL COURTS CONTROVERSY
• WHY ARE BLOOD BANKS STILL REFG GAY AND BI MEN’S BLOOD DONATNS?
• WHY DO THE FDA STILL BAN BLOOD DONATNS FROM GAY MEN?

LETTG GAY MEN DONATE BLOOD COULD HELP SOLVE A MAJOR HEALTH CRISIS

But there is one easily implementable solutn to the natnal blood-supply shortage that’s been available for years and uld be a lifele: allowg gay and bisexual men to donate eely. S., gay and bisexual men (often referred to as MSM, or “men who have sex wh men”) are not allowed to give blood if they’ve had sex wh another man the past three months. “It is my opn that we ntue to have a real problem wh laws and regulatns based on fear rather than science, ” she ntuatn of a MSM-specific barrier to givg is not only limg the blood supply, ’s unnecsary and “rooted homophobia, ” explas Perry N.

BANNED FOR LIFE: WHY GAY MEN STILL N'T DONATE BLOOD

”In 2015, theFDA loosened s rtrictn, permtg gay and bisexual men to donate blood as long as they hadn’t had sex wh another man the past year. For example, if you’re a gay man who wears ndoms durg sex, you lim your risk of ntractg HIV.

Same go for gay men who are married or a long-term monogamo relatnship. Conducted tanm wh the natn’s largt blood centers—the Amerin Red Cross, Valant, and OneBlood—the rearch effort will survey 2, 000 gay and bisexual men across the untry between the ag of 18 and 30 who have had sex wh at least one man the past three months.

WHY SO MANY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN N’T DONATE BLOOD THE U.S.

”The policy change uld have a signifint posive effect on the mental health of gay and bisexual men, too. It also puts gay and bisexual men at higher risk for acquirg HIV over time. “Social and stctural factors that e gay men to feel othered e them to engage risky sexual behavr, ” Halkis says.

MORE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN WILL NOW BE ABLE TO DONATE BLOOD UNR FALIZED FDA L

So a ban like this isn’t jt harmful to the Amerin public; “’s credibly harmful to the gay muny, both emotnally and physilly. The first step is to sign GLAAD’s petn at You then n—and should—te those around you, “sce many people, cludg gay and bi men, don’t know that this ban exists, ” adds Lasky. Let them know you don’t support discrimatory practic that ban gay and bisexual men om dog their civic duty.

"Chip Somovilla / Getty ImagLike lns of other gay men, Dassey ed to give blood a few tim a year whout a send thought. "If you are a gay man, and you answer that qutn tthfully, the rult is a lifetime ban.

" The FDA classifi all gay men the hight-risk blood-donor tegory -- the same tegory as IV dg ers and people who've spent more than five years sce 1980 a untry that has mad w disease.

DISCRIMATN STILL KEEPS MANY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN FROM DONATG BLOOD

Even wh a clean bill of health, a gay man is nsired more of a threat to the blood supply than a straight man who was treated for chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea, venereal warts, and genal herp wh the past year. The FDA, other words, nsirs the sort of man who pays women for sex to be healthier -- and his blood ls of a risk to you -- than a man who last had sex wh another man 30 years 's bee gay men, the FDA argu, are at "creased risk of certa transfn transmissible fectns" like AIDS and hepatis B. And that argument isn't necsarily whout mer: Gay men make up roughly half of the patients livg wh HIV the Uned Stat, spe acuntg for jt four percent of the populatn.

Prsured to take actn, the FDA did the only thg possible and banned the group of people most likely to spread the vis: sexually active gay men. In addn to the Uned Stat, several other untri still have lifetime bans agast gay blood donors place, cludg France, Germany, Swzerland, Norway, and Denmark.

FDA'S REVISED BLOOD DONATN GUIDANCE FOR GAY MEN STILL COURTS CONTROVERSY

More recently, however, other parts of the world have started to rensir the policy's and Spa, for example, no longer specifilly exclu gay men. They are the cx of every argument for overturng the ban on gay donors worldwi.

WHY ARE BLOOD BANKS STILL REFG GAY AND BI MEN’S BLOOD DONATNS?

At the time, all hospals bed need about 80, 000 uns of blood daily, but the Red Cross uld liver only 36, banks have managed to close the gap sce then, but they still ntue to advote on behalf of gay donors.

"The FDA's lifetime blood donor ferral affectg gay men vlat our nondiscrimatn policy, " Kassg wrote a memo to the mp that momentum has only ntued to build. As I like to tell people now, the H HIV stands for 'Human' -- not 'Homosexual'. "Jt bee you're gay don't make you higher risk than someone who isn't, " Zgman says.

This is about behavr; 's not about beg gay. The policy stigmatiz gay men. "I started givg blood llege, and I didn't e out as a gay man until I was 39, " says Bill S., a donor om Philalphia who spoke to Men's Health anonymoly.

WHY DO THE FDA STILL BAN BLOOD DONATNS FROM GAY MEN?

"More importantly, as an overwhelmg body of evince now suggts, n save liv whout endangerg Emmy Derisbn, the woman who spired the Banned4Life movement, put , "I'll never ask, 'Is that gay blood? Origally, gay and bisexual men were pletely prohibed om donatg blood. " In craftg the new guidance, the FDA has been lookg to the rults of a study of about 1, 600 gay and bisexual men to velop screeng qutns that n intify potential donors who are most likely to be fected wh HIV.