As a sophomore in college in 2011, I was deferred from donating blood for being a gay man. I was confronting the homophobia built into the FDA’s blood donation ban for men who have sex with men.
After imposing that rule in 1985 and making a few minor revisions since, the FDA is at long last considering meaningful updates to consider donors based on their sexual behavior regardless of their orientation. The new regulations would allow gay and bisexual men to donate blood — if they are monogamous. The proposal would also for the first time defer anyone from donating if they have had new or multiple partners in the past three months and had anal sex during that time.
It’s progress that officials are revisiting policies that have enshrined stigma and prejudice. The changes would open the door to many gay and bisexual men who were previously — and wrongly — excluded, helping shore up the United States' lagging blood supply.
