Power

Advocates: Federal Recommendations Against Gay Blood Donation Ban Still Discriminate

Though they've has been hailed by some as progress, the recommendations maintain the discriminatory and stigmatizing treatment of gay men by focusing on sexual orientation instead of testing history and status.

Though they've has been hailed by some as progress, the recommendations maintain the discriminatory and stigmatizing treatment of gay men by focusing on sexual orientation instead of testing history and status. Shutterstock

Federal officials on Thursday recommended a change to the country’s lifetime ban on blood donation for men who have sex with other men (MSM). The recommendation—which says that men should be able to donate blood if they have not had sex with another man within the year—has been hailed by some as progress.

A closer look reveals that the changes maintain the discriminatory and stigmatizing treatment of gay men by focusing on sexual orientation instead of testing history and status.

Men who have sex with other men have been banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from donating blood since 1983. The ban made some modicum of sense at the time; during the heart of the AIDS epidemic there wasn’t an easy, quick way to test a person’s HIV status, and fear arose that the illness could be spread through donated blood.

But understanding of the illness and the ability to test for it has come a long way in the 30 years since the ban was first put in place. HIV rapid tests, which reveal positive or negative results within half an hour, are commonplace and even available for use at home, for example.

And in recent years, gay rights advocates, the medical community, and, more recently, Congress have called for an end to the ban, saying it is both discriminatory and medically unnecessary.

The Health and Human Services Advisory Committee’s recommendation is essentially a response to this criticism. And though it is certainly a step forward for MSM who want to donate blood, the recommendation still maintains the discrimination of gay men by basing donation policy on sexual orientation instead of testing status.

“This recommendation—although nominally better than the existing policy—falls far short because it continues to stigmatize gay and bisexual men, preventing them from donating life-saving blood based solely on their sexual orientation,” the Human Rights Campaign’s government affairs director David Stacy said in a statement.

“The current policy, adopted in the earliest days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the new recommendation are both simply wrong and can no longer be justified in light of scientific research and updated blood screening technology. It’s far past time for this stigma to end.”

The American Civil Liberties Union echoed Stacy, pointing out that “the proposed one-year deferral will prevent two men who maintain a committed, monogamous relationship from ever donating blood. This proposed policy does not distinguish between high risk and safer sex practices.”

By only taking into account a person’s sexual orientation—instead of their testing history and status—to determine whether they can donate blood, the proposal is only a small step in the right direction, these groups say.

Though the committee’s recommendation is not binding, it will be considered by the FDA in December.