Are the FDA's New Blood Donation Eligibility Criteria Actually More Inclusive?
A PrEP deferral points to no
A little over a month ago, the Red Cross, by far the largest collector of blood donations nationwide, put out an urgent request for blood donations. The ongoing blood shortage intensified throughout COVID and shows no sign of improving.
There’s unfortunately not much I can do about it.
Gay men were banned completely from donation for most of my life. While the FDA finalized updates meant to make blood donor eligibility criteria more inclusive back in May of this year, I’m still ineligible.
AIDS-era policy banned any man who had ever had sexual contact with another man from blood donation for life. This draconian regulation was softened first in 2015, when a lifetime ban became twelve-month deferral, putting gay sex on the same level of risk as a prison tat. The ban further softened during the first spike of COVID, and a year of celibacy became three months with a look-the-other-way caveat for those in monogamous couplings.
The 2023 policy shift represents a far smaller step forward than many would like to admit. It is less simplistic than a blanket ban, more nuanced, but has many flaws that continue to stigmatize queer people and self-perpetuate the crisis.
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