Slate's Asssment: Sperm Banks and Gay Sex : NPR

Contents:

• WHY GAY MEN AND OTHER GROUPS ARE BANNED OM DONATG SPERM
• I WANTED TO GET PREGNANT WH MY GAY FRIEND'S SPERM. I HAD NO IA OF THE FIGHT WE WERE IN FOR.
• FDA SET TO BAN GAY MEN AS SPERM DONORS
• MAN WHO WANTED TO BE A SPERM DONOR TO HELP BLACK AND LGBTQ FAI SCRIB SHOCK AT RECEIVG REJECTN EMAIL BEE HE'S GAY, REPORT SAYS
• THE GAY SPERM BANK: LGBTQI FAI &BABI
• SLATE'S ASSSMENT: SPERM BANKS AND GAY SEX
• FDA ADVIS SPERM BANKS ON GAY DONORS
• THE FDA'S LSER-KNOWN INSULT: A BAN ON GAY SPERM DONORS

WHY GAY MEN AND OTHER GROUPS ARE BANNED OM DONATG SPERM

Michelle Ottey, for TAGG MagazeFairfax Fay Fom: Offers a discsn fom to nnect you wh other same-sex uplRabow Babi: Onle rource for beg a parent the gay and lbian munyNatnal Gay and Lbian Chamber of CommerceNatnal Gay and Lbian Medil AssociatnFertily Prervatn for Trans Women: Sperm Bankg8 Children’s Books That Reprent Same-Sex ParentsLGBTQ Fairfax Fay Ttimonials“My wife and I started to look to startg a fay back 2017.

The reason: He checked a box for beg gay, and Food and Dg Admistratn regulatns prohib anonymo sperm donatns om men who have had sex wh men the past five years.

I WANTED TO GET PREGNANT WH MY GAY FRIEND'S SPERM. I HAD NO IA OF THE FIGHT WE WERE IN FOR.

A Washgton Post analysis found Black sperm donors reprent ls than 2 percent of all sperm donors at the untry’s four largt a gay Black man, Roach-Carter said he chose to donate sperm part to aid other LGBTQ upl tryg to build fai. Seattle Sperm Bank said turned away a “really great ndidate” the sprg bee he disclosed he was gay.

IVF and egg donatn selectg an egg donor om our Michigan Egg Bank and a gtatnal rrier for gay male upl and sgle men. Fay buildg for gay men requir IVF wh the e of a gtatnal rrier and an egg donor.

FDA SET TO BAN GAY MEN AS SPERM DONORS

The embryo is created through IVF g an egg of a different woman, an anonymo or known egg donor, and the sperm of one of the gay male partners, a known sperm donor. Months to the procs of tryg to bee pregnant wh my gay iend’s sperm, I got a phone ll that changed everythg. Makg e of that apparent eedom, moreover, had felt like a rponsibily: somethg I owed the women before me, like my gay mother, who, after two closeted s, had fally left her heterosexual marriage.

MAN WHO WANTED TO BE A SPERM DONOR TO HELP BLACK AND LGBTQ FAI SCRIB SHOCK AT RECEIVG REJECTN EMAIL BEE HE'S GAY, REPORT SAYS

I certaly wouldn’t suggt that risks shouldn’t be migated, or that male donors shouldn’t, when relevant, be asked to plete medil treatment before donatg sperm, but the unstated assumptn seemed to be that gay men are unlikely ever to be ee of such fectn. Even a liberal cy like Seattle, where I live, our lol sperm bank nnot allow a sexually active gay man to donate at their labs regardls of specific health history, due to the same FDA policy. And unr the prsur of such polici, I realized that people like me — wh one gay and one straight parent — are effectively beg elimated om our untry’s future.

I didn’t yet know, for stance, that our lol sperm bank’s excln of gay donors is nsistent wh that of sperm banks across the untry, spe the need for more BIPOC sperm donors and ongog updat to regulatns on blood donatn by gay men. Instead, sperm banks still cle to accept gay donors, cg the same FDA policy that had challenged me and that my fertily clic had eventually found a way — at least wh rpect to my “known donor” — to work around.

To the dismay of gay-rights activists, the Food and Dg Admistratn is about to implement new l remendg that any man who has engaged homosexual sex the prev five years be barred om servg as an anonymo sperm FDA has rejected lls to scrap the provisn, sistg that gay men llectively pose a higher-than-average risk of rryg the AIDS vis. Crics acce the FDA of stigmatizg all gay men rather than adoptg a screeng procs that foc on high-risk sexual behavr by any would-be donor, gay or straight.

THE GAY SPERM BANK: LGBTQI FAI &BABI

“Unr the l, a heterosexual man who had unprotected sex wh HIV-posive prostut would be OK as a donor one year later, but a gay man a monogamo, safe-sex relatnship is not OK unls he’s been celibate for five years, ” said Leland Traiman, director of a clic Alameda, Calif., that seeks gay sperm donors. Although there is disagreement over whether the FDA guile regardg gay men will have the force of law, most doctors and clics are expected to observe .

SLATE'S ASSSMENT: SPERM BANKS AND GAY SEX

It is likely to affect some lbian upl who want a child and prefer to e a gay man’s sperm for artificial sematn. “There’s a steadily creasg trend of heterosexual transmissn of HIV, and yet the FDA still has this notn that you protect people by puttg gay men out of the pool. Prospective donors — gay or straight — would be rejected if they had engaged unprotected sex the prev 12 months wh an HIV-posive person, an illegal dg er, or “an dividual of unknown HIV stat outsi of a monogamo relatnship.

FDA ADVIS SPERM BANKS ON GAY DONORS

”But an FDA spokwoman ced FDA documents suggtg that officials felt the broar excln was pnt even if affected gay men who practice safe sex.

'You n't be too reful'Many doctors and fertily clics already have been rejectg gay sperm donors, cg the pendg FDA l or existg regulatns of the Amerin Society for Reproductive Medice. ”However, some sperm banks, notably California, have weled gay donors. The director of one of them, Alice Ruby of the Oakland-based Sperm Bank of California, said her staff had veloped procr for intifyg gay men wh an acceptably low risk of men are a major donor source at Traiman’s Rabow Flag sperm bank, and he said that practice would ntue spe the new l.

'Directed' gay sperm donors OKThe FDA l do not prohib gay men om servg as “directed” sperm donors.

THE FDA'S LSER-KNOWN INSULT: A BAN ON GAY SPERM DONORS

If a woman wishg to bee pregnant knows a gay man and asks that he provi sperm for artificial sematn, a clic uld provi that service even if the man had engaged sex wh other men wh five years. However, Traiman said some lbian upl do not have a gay iend they know and tst well enough to be the blogil father of their child, and would th prefer an anonymo Deborah Cohan, an obstetrics and gynelogy stctor at the Universy of California, San Francis, said some lbians prefer to receive sperm om a gay donor bee they feel such a man would be more receptive to the ncept of a fay head by a same-sex uple.

A gay man was surprised to fd this out when he was rejected om donatg sperm, per The Washgton Post.