Former *NSYNC star Lance Bass has let rip at US authorities for refusing to let gay men donate blood.
The ex-boybander - who came out as gay in 2006 - is desperate to do his bit in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre, but says he is being blocked from helping.
"How is it STILL illegal for gays to donate blood??!! I want to donate and I'm not allowed," Lance, 38, tweeted, following the American Red Cross' appeal for blood donations after more than 59 people were killed and 527 injured when Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd at a country music festival on Sunday.
According to the American Red Cross website, FDA guidelines say that in a bid to reduce the risk of spreading HIV, a man can only give blood 12 months after his last sexual contact with another man.
The guidelines were recently updated, with a lifetime ban having been in place prior.
Lance has been campaigning for equal rights ever since he came out on the cover of People magazine.
He won the Human Rights Campaign’s Visibility Award that year, and vowed to do his best to raise awareness.
“I am going to be the best gay man that I can be and make it as normal as possible,” he said at the time. “I think doing that, and making people see it, makes it a lot easier for the rest of the world to accept it and understand it... I'll definitely get involved, but I'm not going to pretend I'm the smartest person out there [or say], ‘Listen to me because I know what I'm saying.’”
While fans were largely supportive, in an interview with Attitude magazine, Lance revealed his coming out wasn’t so well received in his hometown in Mississippi.
"When you come out, your family comes out, and being from Mississippi, they had a hard time of it. There was a lot of crap from their church and friends,” he said.
"My mom would go to the grocery store and someone would go up to her and say, “I’m sorry,” like I’d died. They had to deal with that kind of ignorance a lot.
"You never want to see your parents deal with that. My mom loves that I’m gay and has nothing against gay people, but when I came out, she cried because she immediately knew that half the world was going to hate me or want to see me dead."
The singer married painter and actor Michael Turchin in an E! special on February 5, 2015, making them the first same-sex couple to exchange vows on cable TV in the US.
His former bandmates Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and JC Chasez all attended the swish do at the Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, although Justin Timberlake couldn’t make it due to his 20/20 Experience World Tour.
