JJ Vincent found this video of a young man who is working to educate people and get the FDA to reconsider its policy on gay men and blood donation.
For more than 30 years, any man who have ever has sex with another man has been banned from donating blood. This policy is controversial and considered by some to be highly discriminatory. Blake Lynch, a Florida nursing student, is trying to get the FDA to reconsider its ban. Until then, he urges people who are eligible to donate in place of those who are “banned 4 life.”
Authors note: Gay men are not the only group of people banned outright from donating blood. The FDA says that it reviews its policies as new science becomes available. The last such review was in 2010.
Richard Aubrey, Ryan White was infected in 1984, before widespread and reliable screening of blood donations. The ELISA test was licensed in 1985 and began to be used for blood screening. http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/aids-timeline/
JJ. I was up to 108 units when a liver blip stopped me. One possibility was hepatitis, which I have never had. Other possibilities were not cheerful, but nothing has come of it. Some years later, the RC wanted me for phoresis, which I’d done before. What about the liver thing? Oh, we don’t test for that any more. So I’m not particularly sanguine about the testing protocols. If I knew I needed surgery, I would do the autologous thing. Since the price for a mistake is death, I’d give the blood folks a bit of slack. Three years after… Read more »
I just wish we would stop using these terms….. it’s not gay blood, or gay marriage or gay love…. just blood, equal and love…..
In my country we have the very same ban. In fact they have a very long list of excluding criteria. If you are too young. Or too old. Or had a coloscopy this year (my doctor was insulted, “do they mean to imply we are not working sterile?”). Or if you were in England for a while at the time of the mad cow disease (banned for life). Or if you ever visited a prostitute (even if it was 20 years ago and you were tested 10 times since). Or ever took any sort of drugs. I got into an… Read more »
That’s interesting about Legionnaire’s, because we had a recent outbreak in North Alabama. I wonder if anyone who visited the sites deemed “exposure sites” qwould be banned, whether they became ill or not, and if that question would even be asked, and if they would even know if they were exposed if they didn’t follow the local news (not uncommon around here).
I hate this policy in regards to donating blood. Being a gay man and O+, I for years have stood on the sidelines listening to pleas for blood donors, etc., and say, well here I am…oh wait, you don’t want MY blood. A few months back I decided to do something less than honest, I donated blood. I just lied about having sex with men. So I guess I placed myself back into the closet for this very act…HOWEVER, I am tested regularly and always turn-up negative for STDs. Besides, the Red Cross screens donated blood for such things and… Read more »
my wife and i are banned because i was an intravenous drug user… over 25 yrs ago…. interesting rules they have
MJO, the assumptions they make still amaze me. The differences in who is short-term deferred and banned-for-life, the differences in standards based on various “risk factors”, it would be nice to see some standardization, some more common sense, some more recent review, fewer blanket bans.