The FDA, in a surprise move, is recommending changing a discriminatory decades-old ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men.
The Associated Press is reporting the FDA will recommend ending a discriminatory and decades-old ban on donations of blood from men who have sex with men. The ban, currently in place, prohibits and man who has ever had sex with another man from donating blood.Â
The restrictions? The FDA will recommend that men who have been not had sex with another man for at least a year may donate blood.
“Over the past several years, in collaboration with other government agencies, the FDA has carefully examined and considered the available scientific evidence relevant to its blood donor deferral policy for men who have sex with men, including the results of several recently completed scientific studies and recent epidemiologic data,” the FDA said in a press release.
“Following this review, and taking into account the recommendations of advisory committees to the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the FDA, the agency will take the necessary steps to recommend a change to the blood donor deferral period for men who have sex with men from indefinite deferral to one year since the last sexual contact.”
The response on Twitter was mixed:
This FDA statement is straight out of an evangelical fever dream: being gay isn’t the sin, but being a well-adjusted adult who has sex is
— Slade Sohmer (@SladeHV) December 23, 2014
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