Gay, bisexual men n give blood for the first time after the FDA eased s donatn polici. Here’s how they feel.

‘In gay years, you’re rather past your sell-by date, aren’t you?’ the person ont of me said, raisg an eyebrow. * gay men giving blood *

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 new plan would require potential donors to fill out a qutnnaire about recent sexual activy, among other risk factors. ”The new approach is meant to strike a balance between activists who want no rtrictns that sgle out gay and bisexual men and blood banks that want to elimate the risk of a recipient acquirg H.

-fund study signed to asss the safety of replacg the current three-month wag perd wh a more dividualized rearchers, who enrolled about 1, 600 gay and bisexual men eight metropolan areas, are hopg to intify a set of screeng qutns that n differentiate men who are more likely to have recently acquired H.

Consirs Shift In Blood Donor Policy For Gay or Bisexual Men. WASHINGTON (AP) — Gay and bisexual men monogamo relatnships n donate blood the U. Eas blood donatn lims for gay men due to shortage.

GAY MEN NOW ABLE TO DONATE BLOOD UTAH AFTER S-LONG BAN

Gay men who were once unable to donate blood were able to participate blood driv for the very first time. * gay men giving blood *

Gay rights groups have long opposed blanket rtrictns on who n give blood, sayg they discrimate. Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love.

There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia.

F.D.A. CONSIRG NEW APPROACH TO BLOOD DONATN BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

Even as the FDA's new May 2023 guidance around blood donatn eligibily evolved, ntu to discrimate agast gay and bisexual men, advot say. * gay men giving blood *

'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.

Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife. The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage". Food and Dg Admistratn l at the time, gay and bisexual men were barred om donatg blood—a policy that had been effect sce the 1980s.

”For years, activists and scientists have been advotg for revised blood donatn l lked to HIV transmissn ncerns and on May 11 the FDA announced that is easg the 2015, the feral agency updated s policy to allow gay and bisexual men to donate blood, but only if they hadn’t had sex wh another man for at least a year.

WHY THE FDA IS EASG LIMS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN GIVG BLOOD

Kev Maxen, an associate strength ach wh the Jacksonville Jaguars, has bee the first male ach a major U.S.-based profsnal league to e out as gay. * gay men giving blood *

In the early 1980s, gay and bisexual men were one of the highly affected groups durg the HIV/AIDS epimic. But along wh the limatns, homophobia also fueled the bate on who uld or uldn’t donate the years, the lag time between exposure to the vis and tts tectg s prence the bloodstream cled.

Dpe the checks, the FDA, 2015, cid to allow blood donatn om only those gay and bisexual men who had abstaed om sex wh men for one year. Also, “not everyone, jt bee of their inty as a gay man or bisexual, is engagg sexual activy that pos a risk of HIV, ” he says. The le, for stance, don’t exclu monogamo gay men, those who practice safe sex, or tt negative for even though the feral agency cut the no-sex-wh-another-man wdow to three months 2020—as the natn experienced a severe blood shortage crisis—’s still rtrictive, says Keh Sigel, an fect diseas specialist at the Ihn School of Medice at Mount Sai, New York Cy.

DPE BLOOD SUPPLI CRILLY LOW, SOME GAY MEN STILL CANNOT DONATE PLASMA

For the first time, the Bin admistratn is mentg on the Food and Dg Admistratn’s long-time blood donatn guil impactg gay men. * gay men giving blood *

In April 2020, more than 500 medil and health profsnals sent an open letter to the FDA statg that even the new prohibn perd did not go far enough reversg the unscientific 2021, the agency fund a study to terme if a qutnnaire uld be ed as an alternative to terme dividual risks of HIV among gay and bisexual men wantg to donate blood as opposed to a blanket time-based policy. ADVANCE studyFor the so-lled ADVANCE study, nearly 2, 000 gay and bisexual men eight ci volunteered to donate blood sampl that were screened for HIV and answered qutns about their sexual activy.

DISCRIMATN STILL KEEPS MANY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN FROM DONATG BLOOD

Dpe Blood Suppli Crilly Low, Some Gay Men Still Cannot Donate Plasma Men who've had COVID-19 and have sex wh other men mt wa three months before donatg potentially life-savg plasma. Dpe Blood Suppli Crilly Low, Some Gay Men Still Cannot Donate Plasma. Many argue that a feral policy preventg many gay men om donatg blood is driven by stigma rather than science.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

And yet simply bee I am gay, I n't do anythg wh . But that's not possible for gay men.

SHOULD ATRALIA END RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN DONATG BLOOD?

The lifetime ban was shortened to a year of celibacy 2015 and then rced to three months last April, which is still a problem acrdg to California State Senator Stt WIENER: The FDA's blood donatn ban is 100% driven by fear, ignorance and outdated stereotyp about gay and bisexual men.

Anybody who is not monogamo, gay or straight, would have to wa. MCCLURG: He says science should drive health policy, not homophobia. “When my iends asked why I was leavg so abptly I had to expla that I’m gay and sexually active, and I n’t donate bee they’re worried about HIV, ” says Mart, who had yet to e out to all of his new iends.

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

Sce then, the Food and Dg Admistratn has revised s policy on blood donatn by gay and bisexual men multiple tim. Advot say that if the policy nyg gay and bisexual men the abily to give blood jt bee they have been sexually active was elimated, 345, 400 to 615, 300 pts of blood uld potentially be add to the system each year, cg a 2014 analysis by the Williams Instute, a public policy rearch center at UCLA.

The lifetime ban on gay men givg blood was imposed 1985, the year actor Rock Hudson died of AIDS-related illns. While Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), an HIV/AIDS service anizatn, is enuraged by the FDA’s chang to protol around blood donatn, Jason Cianctto, s vice print of munitns and policy, has voiced ncerns around the FDA’s remendatns beg “nonbdg, ” as well as s e of outdated data to asss the HIV risk wh regards to men who have sex wh other men. Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player to be drafted when the then-St.

U.K. ENDS RTRICTN ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN DONATG BLOOD

LGBTQI+ groups have lled for Atralia to change s policy on blood donatns om gay and bisexual men the light of mov other untri to relax July the UK removed s three-month abstence perd for gay and bisexual men donatg blood, and moved to an dividual risk asssment for all donors, regardls of genr or sexual partner. A number of other natns, cludg the Netherlands, Israel, Argenta, France and Germany, have abolished their ban on blood donatns for particular groups sce the panmic began, or plan to do so unr Atralian policy, gay men or trans women who have sex wh men are unable to donate blood if their sexual abstence perd is ls than three months. “Mollg suggts this would actually crease the amount of safe blood available to those need of blood products, ” she ban on gay blood donatns was put place the 1980s when much ls was known about the tectn and transmissn of HIV/ appli to all sexually active gay men, as well as sexually active bisexual men and transgenr women who have sex wh men – cludg those long-term Heiger timated that he donated blood as a teenager more than a dozen tim, before g out as gay.

“It rerc negative nnotatns of gay sex and stigmatisg certa groups of men.

I fight agast the ia only gay men n ntract HIV. For the first time, the Bin admistratn is mentg on the Food and Dg Admistratn's long-time blood donatn guil, which are impactg the LGBTQ+ muny by preventg gay and bisexual men om beg eligible blood statement, ma by a Whe Hoe official exclively to ABC News, acknowledg the paful origs of the policy and on the heels of the Amerin Red Cross clarg their first-ever natnal blood crisis last week, as suppli at hospals and blood banks bee dangeroly low. 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.

FDA ALLOWS GAY MEN TO DONATE BLOOD

The le appli to gay and bisexual men who are monogamo and those who tt HIV negative and are practicg safe sex.

It also clus gay and bisexual COVID-19 survivors who wish to donate nvalcent plasma, rich wh antibodi, for ’s PicksThe rtrictn on blood donatns me out of the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s, when limed ttg technology and pacy existed to screen blood for HIV. In 1983, the FDA implemented a lifetime ban on blood donatns om all men who had sex wh men after FDA removed the lifetime ban and enacted a 12-month ferral perd 2015, meang gay or bisexual men had to absta om havg sex wh other men for at least 12 months before donatg blood. Prevly, gay and bisexual men England, Stland and Wal were not permted to donate wh three months of havg been sexually active, due to fears around the transmissn of HIV/AIDS and other fectns, spe studi showg no creased risk, as all donor sampl are tted Northern Ireland Blood Transfn Service has layed implementg the new creria until September, sayg needs more time to prepare for the December, followg a two-year-long study led by Brish blood servic and LGBTQ groups, the NHS announced would be revisg s creria effective this summer.

Gay and bisexual men who had revered om vid-19 were also barred om donatg their plasma to U.

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

Policy remas discrimatory as is based on “membership a group … rather than engagement risky behavr, such as unprotected sex, ” read a statement on the anizatn’s sexually active gay men are barred, said, a straight man or woman “who has had unprotected sex wh multiple partners over the same time ame wh no knowledge of their personal histori remas the donor pool. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:The Food and Dg Admistratn announced plans today to change s policy banng gay and bisexual men om donatg blood.

But crics like Jason Cianctto of the group Gay Men's Health Crisis say 's still unnecsary and CIANCIOTTO: The policy is harmful to gay and bisexual men bee perpetuat the stigma that HIV is a gay But others worry that relaxg the policy isn't risk ee.

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GAY, BISEXUAL MEN UTAH N GIVE BLOOD UNR PANY’S LOOSENED RTRICTNS

I’M 43 – BUT I’M MA TO FEEL LIKE A DOSR BY YOUNGER GAY MEN