N.Y. lawmaker says blood bank turned him away 'for beg gay'

Contents:

• BLOOD IN, BLOOD OUT
• GAY MEN STILL FACE HURDL TO DONATE BLOOD AMID NATNAL SHORTAGE
• NEW BLOOD DONATN RUL TO LOOSEN RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• N.Y. LAWMAKER SAYS BLOOD BANK TURNED HIM AWAY 'FOR BEG GAY'
• GIVG BLOOD HAS BEEN OFF LIMS FOR MANY GAY MEN. A NEW STUDY ULD HELP CHANGE THAT
• FDA MOV TO EASE RTRICTNS ON GAY MEN GIVG BLOOD

BLOOD IN, BLOOD OUT

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. A person is tted durg the first gay men's blood drive, held at the Memorial Blood Center St.

The event was held to prott feral l that effectively ban gay men om donatg Bispg/Star Tribune via Getty Imag, FILEValant told ABC News a new statement that rearchers are halfway toward s goal of enrollg 2, 000 participants across eight ci: Washgton D. They enurage gay and bisexual men who are 18 to 39 years old to participate the FDA, a statement to ABC News, said that this study uld generate data that will help the agency terme if a donor's dividual risk asssment and qutnnaire would be jt as effective rcg the risk of HIV the blood supply as the time-based ferrals the FDA already has FDA also said do not have a specific timele for when the studi will be pleted but that is "mted to gatherg the scientific data that n support alternative donor ferral polici that mata a high level of blood safety. Said the new guil would be more clive and were based on a review of data om other Fremson/The New York TimThe Food and Dg Admistratn plans to revise a longstandg policy that exclud most gay and bisexual men om blood donatn, stead adoptg an approach that will screen donors pendg on their recent sexual activy, agency officials said on move follows years of cricism om L.

GAY MEN STILL FACE HURDL TO DONATE BLOOD AMID NATNAL SHORTAGE

Feral officials have long jtified the excln of gay and bisexual men as a way to keep H. 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 F. Said the agency’s proposal was an important step forward that would enable him — a gay married man — and many others to perform an important public service.

Said the new approach would be genr-clive — the screeng would also apply to women who have sex wh gay and bisexual men — and would foc on dividual risk, not blanket prohibns on groups. A., shapg the proposal, reviewed data om a recent study of about 1, 600 gay and bisexual men eight metropolan areas.

NEW BLOOD DONATN RUL TO LOOSEN RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

”But, as a gay man, he said that not havg the abily to donate blood had ma him feel “shunned by the ernment, ” and he was disappoted that the change took so long.

More about Ey AnthA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 21 of the New York edn wh the headle: New Blood Donatn Rul to Loosen Rtrictns on Gay and Bisexual Men.

N.Y. LAWMAKER SAYS BLOOD BANK TURNED HIM AWAY 'FOR BEG GAY'

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. Brad Hoylman, whose district clus many of New York Cy's historilly gay neighborhoods, said he was "turned away for beg gay" when he tried to donate blood at the New York Blood Center, even though he meets the new FDA creria. "I was turned away for beg gay — turns out, the FDA hasn’t implemented the new creria for LGBTQ donors they announced last month.

“I fd sultg and hurtful that gay and bisexual men n’t ntribute blood durg a natnal panmic.

”“Neverthels, I was rejected as a donor bee NYBC ntu to e the outdated screeng guil of a wag perd of one year stead of three months for gay and bisexual men like me, ” Hoylman the same day Hoylman sent his letter, the New York Blood Center warned of “dangeroly low” blood bank rerv and lled for creased donatns even while admtg that is still unable to accept blood donatns om gay and bisexual men, spe the new FDA guidance. ”Hoylman said the new three-month abstence policy for gay and bisexual blood donors, while an improvement, is still discrimatory and unscientific. "The whole policy needs to be thrown overboard, given that is based on homophobia and outdated science om 30 years ago, " he York Cy Mayor Bill De Blas on Thursday said he would ntact the FDA missner to advote for fully liftg the rtrictns on blood donatns om sexually active gay and bisexual men, jog a growg chos of health officials and lawmakers who say that the current three-month ban is exacerbatg an acute blood shortage.

GIVG BLOOD HAS BEEN OFF LIMS FOR MANY GAY MEN. A NEW STUDY ULD HELP CHANGE THAT

A 2014 study by UCLA Law's Williams Instute found that fully repealg the gay and bisexual blood donatn rtrictns uld potentially unlock over a half ln blood uns per year om men who have sex wh men — a total crease of 2 percent to 4 percent the blood recent weeks, gay and bisexual men who have revered om COVID-19 have sought to donate their antibody-rich blood for experimental nvalcent plasma treatments and have been rejected, addg urgency to the new lls for NBC Out on Twter, Facebook & Instagram Tim FzsimonsTim Fzsimons is a reporter for NBC News.

The maly black show, now s sophomore year, has jected a few Latisms to s episos as of late. Now the 38-year-old was a donatn center for the first time years, this time as part of a study that uld lead to the changg of a feral le that has angered and alienated gay men such as him. “It’s tratg not beg able to help when I’m a healthy donor, ” said Goldste, a blogy profsor who has been a monogamo relatnship wh his hband for more than a who have sex wh men have long faced rtrictns on givg blood the Uned Stat, amid ncerns about the disproportnate toll of HIV/AIDS on gay and bisexual men.

Des ago, as AIDS began vastatg gay muni, the Food and Dg Admistratn advised blood centers to prohib any man who had had sex wh another man sce 1977 — even once — om FDA, which regulat blood banks, has eased the l somewhat recent years. But gay and bisexual men are still eligible to donate if they have had sex wh another man the last three feral l have long drawn protts om physicians, policians and activists who nounce them as outdated and stigmatizg. Many were pecially upset after a mass shootg at the gay nightclub Pulse Orlando, Fla., when gay men were turned away om givg blood to help the wound.

FDA MOV TO EASE RTRICTNS ON GAY MEN GIVG BLOOD

Gay men monogamo relatnships are generally barred, but “what about straight men who are havg unprotected sex wh women or engagg other risky behavr? ”Now blood banks are seekg out gay and bisexual men ci cludg Los Angel, Miami and Memphis for the Advance Study, which aims to fd out whether askg would-be donors about risky behavrs — such as havg sex whout a ndom — uld be a safe alternative to screeng out all men who have recently had sex wh men. (Gabriella Angotti-Jon / Los Angel Tim) The Red Cross and two other blood centers — Valant and OneBlood — are now enrollg sexually active gay and bisexual men the ferally fund study, askg them about risky behavrs, then llectg and ttg their blood for HIV.

“When I grew up, was very clear that as a boy, beg gay was the worst thg you uld be.

The only exampl of gay people were people dyg of AIDS, ” Goldste said. Sce then, “I’ve watched the world change around me” — cludg legal regnn for his marriage and gay upl livg happily on televisn and barred om givg blood, Goldste said, seems “totally out of step wh where we are. “It’s hard to overstate how strong the impact of that terrible time was on blood banks, ” said Arthur Caplan, director of the divisn of medil ethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medice, who opposed the lifetime lifetime ban was first eased six years ago, but only for gay and bisexual men who had not had sex wh another man for at least a year — a le that effectively ntued to bar gay men if they were at all sexually active.