Why Do FDA Ban ‘Gay’ Blood? - GMHC

Contents:

• MORE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN WILL NOW BE ABLE TO DONATE BLOOD UNR FALIZED FDA L
• FDA DROPS BLOOD DONATN RTRICTNS SPECIFIC TO GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• F.D.A. EAS BAN ON BLOOD DONATNS FROM GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• BIN ADMISTRATN SPEAKS OUT ON FERAL BLOOD DONATN POLICY IMPACTG GAY MEN AMID NATNAL BLOOD SHORTAGE
• FDA LIFTS BAN ON BLOOD DONATN FOR GAY, BISEXUAL MEN
• FDA LOOSENS RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN, ENURAG BLOOD DONATNS AMID RONAVIS CRISIS
• WHY DO FDA BAN ‘GAY’ BLOOD?
• IT’S LONG PAST TIME TO END THE FDA’S GAY BLOOD BAN
• FDA PAV WAY FOR MORE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN TO DONATE BLOOD WH NEW RISK-BASED ASSSMENT
• F.D.A. CONSIRG NEW APPROACH TO BLOOD DONATN BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• FDA'S REVISED BLOOD DONATN GUIDANCE FOR GAY MEN STILL COURTS CONTROVERSY
• FDA PROPOS EASG BLOOD DONATN L FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• FDA EAS BLOOD DONATN BAN ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN AFTER YEARS OF PROTT
• FDA PROPOS ALLOWG GAY AND BISEXUAL MONOGAMO MEN TO DONATE BLOOD
• GAY, BISEXUAL MEN UTAH N GIVE BLOOD UNR PANY’S LOOSENED RTRICTNS
• FDA LIFTS BAN ON BLOOD DONATNS BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

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

Is movg to ease rtrictns on blood donatns om gay and bisexual men and other groups that tradnally face higher risks of HIV. The Food and Dg Admistratn (FDA) said Thursday had officially elimated rtrictns that had prevly prohibed many blood donatns by gay and bisexual men — a longstandg policy that crics say is discrimatory.

Wh the updated guil, most gay and bisexual men who are a monogamo relatnship wh a man will no longer have to rea om sex orr to donate blood. Print and CEO of GLAAD Sarah Kate Ellis echoed that approval a statement, sayg "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, " However, Ellis said while the new guidance is a step the right directn, there is still a barrier for LGBTQ+ people who are on PrEP, an FDA-approved dg proven to prevent the transmissn of HIV, who may want to donate 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.

FDA DROPS BLOOD DONATN RTRICTNS SPECIFIC TO GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

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.

""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. Eas Ban on Blood Donatns From Gay and Bisexual Men ADVERTISEMENTThe NewsThe Food and Dg Admistratn announced on Thursday that had formally end the agency’s wi-rangg prohibn on blood donatns om gay and bisexual men, a longstandg policy that had been nounced as discrimatory.

F.D.A. EAS BAN ON BLOOD DONATNS FROM GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

They fell durg and after the panmic wh the crease school- and office-based blood old l were far more rtrictive screeng out gay or bisexual men.

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.

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

It also clus gay and bisexual COVID-19 survivors who wish to donate nvalcent plasma, rich wh antibodi, for 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. 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 Food and Dg Admistratn (FDA) has lifted a s-long ban on sexually active gay and bisexual men om donatg blood, overlg a rtrictn datg back to the 1980s AIDS crisis.

FDA LIFTS BAN ON BLOOD DONATN FOR GAY, BISEXUAL MEN

“It’s a discrimatory policy that assum that HIV is a gay disease, and is very much not, ” GLAAD’s Tony Morrison told NPR.

The Food and Dg Admistratn on Thursday said would loosen some of the rtrictns that have blocked gay and bisexual men om donatg agency is changg the remend ferral perd for men who have had sex wh another man om 12 months to three months.

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

Rtrictns on blood donatns om gay and bisexual men, and other groups nsired to be high risk for HIV or AIDS transmissn, date back to the 1980's.

ET every weekday for special verage of the novel ronavis wh the full ABC News team, cludg the latt news, ntext and FDA said the chang would be implemented immediately and and are expected to rema place after the COVID-19 panmic revised guidance also clus people wh recent tattoos and piercgs and women who have had sex wh a gay or bisexual man; the remend ferral perd is now three months vers 12 Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Blogics Evaluatn and Rearch, said a statement: "Based on recently pleted studi and epimlogic data, we've nclud that the current polici regardg the eligibily of certa donors n be modified whout promisg the safety of the blood supply. Contug to enforce the facto prohibn on blood donatn by sexually active gay and bisexual men do not reflect the bt science available. "In the last week Democratic senators and gay rights advocy groups have lled on the feral ernment to loosen the rtrictns, cg the recent blood shortag ed by the COVID-19 outbreak.

WHY DO FDA BAN ‘GAY’ BLOOD?

"This is a victory for all of who raised our llective voic agast the discrimatory ban on gay and bisexual men donatg blood.

We will keep fightg until the ferral perd is lifted and gay and bi men, and all LGBTQ people, are treated equal to others.

IT’S LONG PAST TIME TO END THE FDA’S GAY BLOOD BAN

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. Blood supply is dangeroly low bee of a sharp drop donatns durg the COVID-19 so, gay and bisexual men, clilly referred to as “men who have sex wh men” or MSM, are still beg told that their blood is too “dangero” to donate. MSM mt be celibate for three months to give blood bee of a Food and Dg Admistratn (FDA) policy datg back 40 years to the onset of the AIDS ban do harm by perpetuatg the stigma that HIV/AIDS is a “gay disease, ” said Jason Cianctto, GMHC’s vice print of munitns and policy.

“It suggts there is somethg herently wrong and ‘dirty’ about gay and bisexual men that mak them diseased and dangero to others.

People livg wh HIV also n’t FDA’s blanket ferral clus many HIV-negative people wh a low-to-zero risk of HIV fectn, and accurately suggts all gay and bisexual men are livg wh stance, although Cianctto and his hband are not an open relatnship, the three-month celibacy perd still appli.

FDA PAV WAY FOR MORE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN TO DONATE BLOOD WH NEW RISK-BASED ASSSMENT

Dpe enormo advanc scientific knowledge about HIV transmissn and the advent of highly accurate blood screeng tts, the FDA has not changed s policy targetg gay and bisexual HIV and AIDS was rrectly labeled a “gay disease” the early 1980s, the FDA imposed a lifetime blood donatn ban on any man who’d had sex wh another man sce 1977, along wh sex workers, traveno dg ers and people livg wh HIV. This wdow is signifintly ls than the three months of celibacy required by the ’s roleFor s, GMHC has been fightg the discrimatory ban bee falsely stigmatiz gay and bisexual men as rriers of a “gay disease.

Prompted by the COVID-19 epimic, the FDA December 2020 signed off on a pilot study for three major blood centers, the Amerin Red Cross, Valant and OneBlood, to do jt ADVANCE Study is recg 2, 000 gay and bisexual men eight ci to supply a blood sample and answer behavral qutns about HIV risk factors. They have not yet been able to rec the requise 2000 gay and bisexual men, perhaps bee the study self, by focg solely on this populatn, perpetuat the stigma of “gay blood.

”“At a time when I was still figurg out my inty, the ernment was affirmg harmful thgs I had been raised to believe about myself: If you are gay, you will die alone om AIDS, ” he hasn’t been advotg all the years to endg the discrimatory ferral perd jt so gay and bisexual men n give blood, Cianctto said. ”Thirty years after Cianctto’s troublg experience, a gay male teen tryg to do their civic duty and give blood will still be asked if they’ve had sex wh a man—and turned away if the answer is y.

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

”Photo: Blood Mirror is a sculpture and llaborative project by Jordan Eagl, created wh 59 blood donatns om gay, bisexual, and transgenr men.

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

Incredibly, regulatns put place durg the gay panic that characterized the emergence of HIV/AIDS are still spirually place today — and if the natn’s regulatory bodi are ser about endg this blood crisis, the first people they should be lookg to is queer 1986, followg years of polil prsure om all sis of the Amerin polil spectm, the FDA officially began ferrg cisgenr men who had had sex wh another man (MSM) om blood donatn, wh the ban place if they’d had gay sex om 1977 onward. In the meantime, heterosexual people who have equent unprotected sex are still seen as safer blood donors on paper than any given gay or bi man who is a monogamo legacy of gay panic that prompted the ial bans the 1980s, when HIV/AIDS was still assumed to be a disease uniquely plagug the gay male muny, is still very much alive the “progrsive” half measur.

It’s an sult that misterprets the real reason HIV/AIDS is still so prevalent the LGBTQ+ muny — ’s not that gay sex is more prone to STI transmissn than straight sex, but that gay men were left to die by unrg stutns for s, and that gay Black and Late men livg poverty today don’t have as much accs to meditns like PrEP as their more affluent whe and straight two dozen lawmakers urged the FDA to update “s discrimatory blood donor ferral polici for men who have sex wh men.

FDA PROPOS EASG BLOOD DONATN L FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

The FDA nsirs easg rtrictns on blood donatns by gay and bisexual men The Food and Dg Admistratn is likely to propose easg rtrictns on blood donatns by gay and bisexual men.

Origally, gay and bisexual men were pletely prohibed om donatg blood out of fears they would ntamate the blood supply wh HIV.

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

In 2015, the FDA lifted the total ban on blood donatns by gay and bisexual men and stead said they uld donate as long as they hadn't had sexual ntact wh other men for at least a year.

FDA PROPOS ALLOWG GAY AND BISEXUAL MONOGAMO MEN TO DONATE BLOOD

This qutnnaire would be based on the rults of a study of about 1,600 gay and bisexual men that was signed to velop a set of screeng qutns that would intify potential donors who are most likely to be fected wh HIV.

Here's Tony Morrison om the group GLAAD, which has long cricized the current policy.TONY MORRISON: It's a discrimatory policy that assum that HIV is a gay disease, and is very much not. US Food and Dg Admistratn on Thursday paved the way for more gay and bisexual men to donate blood by falizg new risk-based remendatns for blood donatn.

Before the FDA began takg a send look at s guidance several years ago, gay and bisexual men had faced a lifetime ban on blood donatn, a move that many said was discrimatory. Sarah Kate Ellis, Print and CEO of GLAAD, the Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn, said the new remendatns signal “the begng of the end of a dark and discrimatory past rooted fear and homophobia, ” but argued that by excludg people takg PrEP, they didn’t go far enough. 2, 2022The Food and Dg Admistratn is nsirg a more dividualized strategy for screeng gay and bisexual men for blood donatn amid an ongog natnal blood shortage, acrdg to an agency official briefed on the F.

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

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.

FDA LIFTS BAN ON BLOOD DONATNS BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

”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.

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