Donations are vital. But we are also delving into a policy set by the FDA, which many see as discriminatory against the LGBTQ community.
Meteorologist Adam Joseph spoke with health reporter and registered nurse Ali Gorman about how this policy affects him and millions of others.
“I want to help everyone as much as I can, but someone is telling me that I can’t because I am living the life I was born to live,” he said.
Joseph is talking about an FDA policy that restricts gay or bisexual men from donating blood unless they are abstinent for three months, which includes men like Adam, who has been in a monogamous relationship for 12 years. He and his partner Karl built a family together.
“We look at our life with our two children, yes, we are two parents, but we are living a life just like any other heterosexual couple,” said Adam. “You know we don’t leave our marriage, we live happily together.”
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He says that as a gay man, he and many others are grouped together in a discriminatory stereotype that all gay men have HIV.
The blood donation restriction stems from a lifetime ban imposed in 1983, when the AIDS epidemic was unfolding.
Dr. Katharine Bar, a specialist in infectious diseases at Penn Medicine, says that we have come a long way scientifically since then. She says that the screening of the donor and the blood itself is extremely sensitive today.
The FDA policy has been updated. In 2015, it changed, allowing gay or bisexual men to donate if they abstain from sex with a man for 12 months. Last year, due to the pandemic, that period dropped to three months.
Doctor Bar says it is a step in the right direction, but still irrational and not based on science.
“It is really judging people as a large group that you identify with, as opposed to your individual risks,” she said. “I think we can continue to push to reevaluate this policy and, hopefully, to have it more based on science, rather than based on history.”
She says other countries have changed their policies.
The FDA recently launched a pilot study to assess individual risks rather than general restrictions.
The American Medical Association says there is already enough evidence. In a statement, he urges the FDA to remove categorical restrictions.
Adam still says to the others: donate blood if you can.
“It can save a lot of lives. Do it for me until I can get through those doors and do it for all of you,” he said.
The American Red Cross is involved in the FDA study.
“The Red Cross remains committed to building an inclusive environment that embraces diversity for all those who engage in our life-saving mission and does not believe that eligibility for blood donation should be determined by methods based on sexual orientation,” said the American Red Cross at a demonstration.
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