Banned for life: Why gay men still n't donate blood

Gay and bisexual men face a time-based ban on givg blood. But fairer practic uld help save over a ln people a year whout the risk of spreadg HIV. * gay people can t donate blood *

So monogamo gay men uld start donatg blood aga sometime 2023. 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.

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

The Food and Dg Admistratn has dropped all rtrictns specific to gay and bisexual men donatg blood. * gay people can t donate blood *

“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.

FDA LOOSENS RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN, ENURAG BLOOD DONATNS AMID RONAVIS CRISIS

The FDA has announced a relaxg of s rtrictns on gay men beg allowed to donate blood, light of the ronavis disease 2019 panmic. Instead of 1 year, if a male has had sex wh another male, he need only wa 3 months to donate blood. * gay people can 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.

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

The Food and Dg Admistratn on Thursday said would loosen some of the rtrictns that have blocked gay and bisexual men om donatg blood. * gay people can t donate blood *

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. ”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.

So a ban like this isn’t jt harmful to the Amerin public; “’s credibly harmful to the gay muny, both emotnally and physilly.

GAY MEN STILL FACE HURDL TO DONATE BLOOD AMID NATNAL SHORTAGE

The U.S. Food and Dg Admistratn is askg for new scientific rearch as reevaluat a ntroversial policy banng men om donatg blood if they adm to havg had sex wh another man the past year. Gay rights advot say the l are not based science, but on s of stigma regardg gay men and AIDS. NewsHour Weekend’s Ivette Feliciano reports. * gay people can t donate blood *

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. The Food and Dg Admistratn has dropped all rtrictns specific to gay and bisexual men donatg blood, a move long anticipated by public health experts and gay rights new guidance, first proposed January and falized Thursday, will not rtrict donatns based on someone's sexual orientatn or genr inty, and stead move towards an "dividual risk-based" approach to rce the risk of accintal HIV fectn through the blood donatn FDA origally banned donatns om gay and bisexual men the midst of the 1980s HIV/AIDS crisis.

For example, the HIV epimic has spread far beyond gay and bisexual men, wh women acuntg for roughly 1 5 new HIV diagnos the Uned Stat, acrdg to the most recent CDC data available.

Peter Ch-Hong, an fect disease specialist at the Universy of California, San 2015, the FDA relaxed an outright ban on donatns om gay and bisexual men, but the 2015 guidance asked men to absta om sex for at least one year before Thursday's falized guidance, every prospective donor will be asked about their sexual history wh the past three months -- regardls of their sexual orientatn.

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

Learn more about the current feral policy on gay and bisexual men donatg blood. * gay people can t donate blood *

""The FDA's cisn to follow science and issue new remendatns for all Amerins, regardls of sexual orientatn, who selflsly donate blood to help save liv, signals the begng of the end of a dark and discrimatory past rooted fear and homophobia, " Sarah Kate Ellis, the print and CEO of GLAAD, said a statement, however, took issue wh one part of the updated remendatn, which urg ferral for anyone takg HIV meditns -- cludg people who are HIV negative who are takg meditns lled PrEP to prevent ferral perd uld ntue to erect barriers to LGBTQ blood donors, she said. "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.

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

Gay and bisexual men are still rtricted om givg blood, a move that LGBTQ activists ll discrimatory. * gay people can t donate blood *

" 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.

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 people can t donate 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.

DISCRIMATN STILL KEEPS MANY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN FROM DONATG BLOOD

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 people can t donate blood *

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.

BLOOD DONATN BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

For the first time four s, gay and bisexual men will be allowed to donate blood Utah. Durg a prs nference Wednday afternoon, ARUP Blood Ser * gay people can t donate blood *

They are the cx of every argument for overturng the ban on gay donors worldwi. 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'.

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

FDA fast-tracked new guidance to ease rtrictns agast gay men but most blood banks haven’t yet applied the revisn * gay people can t donate blood *

"Jt bee you're gay don't make you higher risk than someone who isn't, " Zgman says.

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN ARE NOW ALLOWED TO DONATE BLOOD IN ENGLAND, STLAND AND WAL

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.

"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?

GAY MEN US STILL UNABLE TO DONATE BLOOD SPE NEW RONAVIS L

The FDA has announced a relaxg of s rtrictns on gay men beg allowed to donate blood, light of the ronavis disease 2019 panmic.

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

Instead of 1 year, if a male has had sex wh another male, he need only wa 3 months to donate FDA has announced a relaxg of s rtrictns on gay men beg allowed to donate blood, light of the ronavis disease 2019 (COVID-19) panmic.

How do they know if a gay man is gay?

Harcup, 43, a gay man who liv Florida. And ’s also outrageo to assume that gay men engage more risky sexual behavr than straight men. The revised policy match that the Uned Kgdom, which 2017 implemented a 3-month ferral policy for gay or bisexual men who want to donate blood technician, now a fns entreprenr and owner of, Alistaire Nzek, 34, of Hightstown, New Jersey, poted out, “The whole reason is bee they thk men who sleep wh men are at a higher risk of gettg HIV, " he said.

Should Atralia end rtrictns on gay and bisexual men donatg blood? | Health | The Guardian

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

FDA DROPS BLOOD DONATN RTRICTNS SPECIFIC TO GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN