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.

GAY MEN STILL FACE HURDL TO DONATE BLOOD AMID NATNAL SHORTAGE

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. Feral officials have long jtified the excln of gay and bisexual men as a way to keep H.

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

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.

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

A., shapg the proposal, reviewed data om a recent study of about 1, 600 gay and bisexual men eight metropolan areas.

”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.

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

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.

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.

FDA MOV TO EASE RTRICTNS ON GAY MEN GIVG BLOOD

”“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. 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.