Gay men and donating blood

All email addresses you provide will be used just for sending this story. This world-first “plasma pathway” policy will allow most people, including gay and bisexual men, to donate plasma immediately regardless of sexual activity, provided they meet other criteria.

The lifetime ban on gay men giving blood was imposed inthe year actor Rock Hudson died of AIDS-related illness. Most recently, in Maythe FDA finalized guidance to assess blood donation eligibility using a set of individual, risk-based questions. When fighting ended Americans continued to offer their blood out of a sense of civic duty.

Initially, gay and bisexual men who had sex with men were banned for donating for life. Prior to joining CR, he spent a decade covering public affairs in community media. Citing a analysis by the Williams Institutea public policy research center at UCLA, advocates say thattopints of blood could potentially be added to the system each year if it eliminated the policy denying gay and bisexual men the ability to give blood just because they have been sexually active.

Under this final guidance, all prospective blood donors will answer a series of individual, risk-based questions to determine their eligibility under the aforementioned sexual encounter windows. He remembers being so humiliated his voice shook, and needing to go back to his dorm room to cry.

In Novemberthe French Ministry of Health announced that all adult citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation, would be able to donate blood without time-based restrictions after answering screening questions to assess their risk of exposure.

The FDA reviewed numerous data sources, including data from countries with similar HIV epidemiology that now use an individual risk-based approach for reviewing donor eligibility, as well as the FDA-funded Assessing Donor Variability And New Concepts in Eligibility ADVANCE study to determine whether a different donor policy can be used at blood centers nationwide while maintaining the safety of the blood supply.

Learn about federal regulations related to blood donation by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual and Gender non-conforming (LGBTQ+) individuals. Brian Vines has been a member of the special projects team at Consumer Reports sincefocusing on marketplace inequities.

Over the years, the ban eased a little but still excluded most gay men from donating. That was in Since then, the Food and Drug Administration has revised its policy on blood donation by gay and bisexual men multiple times. Inthe FDA updated its guidance around blood donation eligibility.

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Blood Donation by Gay

Follow him on X: bvines We respect your privacy. Other countries are also taking action. Still, donors regardless of sexual orientation will be deferred from donating blood if they report having had a new sexual partner in the past three months and having engaged in anal sex in that period, or report having had more than one sexual partner in the past three months and having had anal sex during that time.

This is to reduce the likelihood of donations by individuals with new or recent HIV infection, who may be in the window period for detection of HIV only by nucleic acid testing. With the updated guidelines, most gay and bisexual men who are in a monogamous relationship with a man will no longer have to refrain from sex in order to donate blood.

A Chicago native, he has a passion for social justice and deal hunting. The FDA’s decision to allow gay men to donate blood is a significant victory for equity and inclusion, but it is only the beginning. Then, in Aprilthey shortened that to three months.

In Maythe FDA eliminated time-based deferrals and screening questions specific to men who have sex with men and women who have sex with men who have sex with men. Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, have made similar changes to their blood donation screening processes.

One month into his freshman year at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N. But as his friends went on to donate after answering screening questions, Martin was turned away. But even before the pandemic, donations had significantly declined.

Inthe FDA lifted the lifelong ban preventing gay and bisexual men from donating, saying instead that they had to abstain from sexual contact with another man for 12 months.