Although the lifetime ban has been lifted, the FDA now recommends a 12-month deferral since the last sexual contact with another man. This will be reflected on the health history forms donors must fill out beforehand, said Andrea Fagan, director of public relations and marketing for the Indiana Blood Center.
Those who have tried to donate in the past but were turned away can now be reevaluated, according to the FDA website.
Lifting the ban has been discussed for some time by both federal agencies and LGBT advocates. However, the National Gay Blood Drive still believes there is more progress to be made.
In their formal statement, the National Gay Blood Drive calls on the FDA to “move toward a deferral based upon individual risk assessment.”
“Today, we begin the final push to eliminate discrimination based on sexual orientation from the blood donation process altogether, ” said Ryan James Yezak, founder and director of the National Gay Blood Drive.
Although pre-donor testing would not be realistic, the organization advocates for individual risk assessments being added to the health history forms, said Jay Franzone, National Gay Blood Drive Director of Communications. These risk calculations would include factors that vary from tattoos to drug use to sexual intercourse with prostitutes, Franzone said.
“Based on the research and based on talking to experts in the field, that would make the blood supply safer for all Americans,” he said.
However, this will require more time and money to be invested in research.
“For other behavioral deferrals such as commercial sex workers and injection drug use, insufficient data are available to support a change to the existing deferral recommendations at this time,” according to the FDA website.
For these type of changes to occur, LGBT lobbyists will have to continue to fight at the federal level.
“The FDA is essentially continuing the stereotype and stigma that gay and bisexual men have HIV and that heterosexual people are at a much lower risk of contracting the virus or can’t get it at all,” Franzone said. “HIV isn’t a gay disease. It doesn’t discriminate against anyone.”
