Should the FDA Allow Gay Men to Donate Blood?

By U.S. News Staff

July 12, 2010 RSS Feed Print

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Eight million U.S. donors give blood each year, according to the Red Cross, but demand outpaces supply. The Food and Drug Administration prohibits gay men from donating blood. Critics say the ban bars safe donors from giving, but advocates argue that the policy should not be changed hastily. Should the FDA allow gay men to donate blood?
Edited by Robert Schlesinger

Yes

Mike Quigley
Illinois Democrat, sits on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

The current policy has been in place since the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s, when health officials banned for life any man who has had sex with a man—even once—since 1977 from donating blood. In the 25 years since, we have seen vast advances in blood screening technology, policy changes in other nations, and staunch opposition from the...

No

Mark Skinner
Washington-based attorney and president of the World Federation of Hemophilia

The Department of Health and Human Services' blood advisory committee has concluded that current donor deferral policies are suboptimal. But the committee also correctly noted that the available scientific data are inadequate to support a change to a specific alternative policy at this time and instead recommended a critical review to...

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'Chances of the men who identify themselves as "heterosexual" being honest about the guy he sees on the "down low" are slim to none. Especially considering the fact that he would have to explain himself to his wife or friends as to why he was banned. How many times do you think an infected woman donates before symptoms from her unknown infection that her husband is spreading are so bad she finally has to see a doctor she can't afford or has no insurance for??
Do you people even realize that a woman who has had sex with someone she KNEW was positive is only deferred for 1 year?? Or that men who sleep with prostitutes are as well?? Yet I have been with the same person for over 10 years and if my mother needed a life saving transfusion and I was the only match I'd have to sit back and watch her die because no doctor would risk ignoring a government policy regardless of the situation.'
To answer your first paragraph, someone like Larry Craig is unable to donate blood, either, without lying (and lying here is a felony in, I think, 34 states, and a misdemeanor in 4 others. I have no idea how they could realistically enforce this in most cases, short of word of mouth or their own so-called "gaydars," although someone like Craig, Barney Frank, or Magic Johnson would probably be turned away on the spot, since they'd be recognized by the blood drive.)
That's the other thing: If you experimented with another man when you were 18 back in 1978 (or, say, were abused by a stepfather or priest,) got no diseases from it, and had no idea it would result in a lifetime ban, tough...AND your wife or girlfriend is, technically, subject to that same 12-month deferral you mentioned for knowingly sleeping with an HIV-positive man. It'd be awkward to tell your wife or girlfriend that technically, she's basically unable to donate blood, either, because of one experiment you had when you were 18, even if presently you're not "on the down low." I have no idea how instituting a less-than-lifetime deferral to accommodate for this is caving to a "politically correct pro-gay agenda" rather than on "actual science," to quote Gene Wade.
You can just not donate blood if you are disqualified, but the fact that there is a "peer pressure" element to blood drives at work will make people wonder, in addition to how it disqualifies your wife/girlfriend.

anonymous 4:30PM October 22, 2010

As a blood donor with a few gallons along the way, I know it can be frustrating to want to do "good" and yet be told no. Over the years, as more and more restrictions have come out- lived in Europe during the Mad Cow era? Been out of the country for longer than a certain length of time? Had your ears pierced or gotten a tattoo lately? These things can knock you out of giving blood also.
Perhaps there are other uses that donated blood can be utilized to benefit mankind.
I remember a dying mother in Atlanta who had been a victim of violence. She lost the child she was carrying and after pints and pints of blood, then she lost her life. They donated her organs to perhaps a dozen people. A victory in the face of loss. Then 3-4-6 months later, they found that 1 donor of all of those pints of blood became HIV positive. They had to go and tell all of those people, thouse sisters and brothers, or mother and fathers, that Yes, they got the organ, but they may have gotten something else. They now live under a cloud of fear as they periodically go to get tested to make sure that the organ they received did not come with an addition no one suspected.
This is not a matter of who one choses for a partner for males. It should also be for females. It is not just risky sexual behavior. It is any risky behavior- share a bed or share a needle.
I sometimes think that we are about to be down to two or three of us as donors. Everytime I read the literature before I donate, it seems someone else has to be excluded. But, if it were my mother or sister, my father or brother who was to get the transfusion or the organ- Hell Yes, I say exclude them. Do Not have people grateful for a gift that turns out to be something that will kill or debilitate them.
In the end - It is Not about the gay or bisexual male. It is NOT about you, it is about the person on the other end of the transfusion or the transplant. Do not try to make it about you. It is about the other person.
Again- science should be able to do good with donated blood even if it is not used in transfusions. These people should also find other ways to 'donate' with out trying to violate rules that have been developed for the good of the nation and the recipients of blood and organs.
No one in my family's life is worth that risk.
I give blood and encourage others to give blood so that it is there when we as a society need it. So that it is untainted and worth someone receiving it. I am an organ donor for the same reason. I would just donate the body to science if it was any chance that it would leave the recipient in a worse condition upon receipt.

MF Cleaveland of GA 3:12PM August 30, 2010

I do not understand the thinking of people who flat out say, "no" concerning gays being able to donate blood. What do you know about the sexual and drug habits of the straight donors? You don't know their possibly very promiscuous sexual lifestyles or drug habits. In addition, we are able to very quickly test blood from donors. So, all this boils down to is stereotyping and discrimination. It is time for a change to our thinking and our practices and allow all people to donate blood and test it, as we do anyway.

Jan W. of WI 9:21PM August 18, 2010

Should the FDA Allow Gay Men to Donate Blood?

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