Why so many gay and bisexual men n’t donate blood the U.S. | PBS News Weekend

Contents:

• LETTG GAY MEN DONATE BLOOD COULD HELP SOLVE A MAJOR HEALTH CRISIS
• BANNED FOR LIFE: WHY GAY MEN STILL N'T DONATE BLOOD
• FDA DROPS BLOOD DONATN RTRICTNS SPECIFIC TO GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• GAY MEN STILL FACE HURDL TO DONATE BLOOD AMID NATNAL SHORTAGE
• GAY MEN NOW ABLE TO DONATE BLOOD UTAH AFTER S-LONG BAN
• SHOULD ATRALIA END RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN DONATG BLOOD?
• WHICH UNTRI PROHIB GAY OR BISEXUAL MEN OM DONATG BLOOD?
• DPE BLOOD SUPPLI CRILLY LOW, SOME GAY MEN STILL CANNOT DONATE PLASMA
• DISCRIMATN STILL KEEPS MANY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN FROM DONATG BLOOD
• FDA'S REVISED BLOOD DONATN GUIDANCE FOR GAY MEN STILL COURTS CONTROVERSY
• WHY SO MANY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN N’T DONATE BLOOD THE U.S.
• WHY N'T GAY MEN DONATE BLOOD?
• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN ARE NOW ALLOWED TO DONATE BLOOD IN ENGLAND, STLAND AND WAL
• GAY MEN US STILL UNABLE TO DONATE BLOOD SPE NEW RONAVIS L

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

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.

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.

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

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. ”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.

FDA DROPS BLOOD DONATN RTRICTNS SPECIFIC TO GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

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. ”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.

GAY MEN STILL FACE HURDL TO DONATE BLOOD AMID NATNAL SHORTAGE

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.

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

Let them know you don’t support discrimatory practic that ban gay and bisexual men om dog their civic duty. For the first time four s, gay and bisexual men will be allowed to donate blood Utah.

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

Durg a prs nference Wednday afternoon, ARUP Blood Servic ma the announcement, makg the first donor center the state to accept donatns om the gay muny.

“The are excg chang to the guil that have historilly impacted gay and bisexual men for four s.”.

"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.

WHICH UNTRI PROHIB GAY OR BISEXUAL MEN OM DONATG 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.

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.

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

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.

DISCRIMATN STILL KEEPS MANY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN FROM DONATG BLOOD

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

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

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.

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

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. "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.

WHY N'T GAY MEN 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. So monogamo gay men uld start donatg blood aga sometime 2023.

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

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.

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

""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. Dpe this urgent need for donatns, people who have sex wh gay or bisexual men are still facg rtrictns on their abily to give Food and Dg Admistratn bars people who have had sex wh gay or bisexual men om donatg blood for three months followg the most recent sexual ntact bee of fears of HIV the blood agency changed the ferral perd om 12 months to three months November 2020 as blood donatns fell and hospals faced cril shortag durg the first year of the COVID-19 advot, cludg the Human Rights Campaign, say the FDA is movg too slowly on removg the rtrictn, sayg that 's an outright ban on the abily of people, particularly gay and bisexual men, to donate blood. Rtrictns on blood donatns om gay and bisexual men, who are nsired to be at high risk for HIV or AIDS transmissn, date back to the and bisexual men unrgo dividual risk asssments stead of time-based bans untri around the world, recently cludg Greece and France, acrdg to ternatnal reports.