Tag Archives: Gay Blood Ban

FDA To Ease Ban On Gay Men Donating Blood And It's Still Stigmatizing

FDA Reduces Restrictions On Gay Male Blood Donors, Continues Stigmatization

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Via NBC News:

Amid what it’s calling an “urgent need for blood,” the FDA revised its blood donor guidelines on Thursday, significantly easing the restrictions on men who have sex with men.

The new guidelines reduce the donation deferral period for sexually active gay and bisexual men from 12 months to three, meaning these otherwise healthy men will now have to abstain from same-sex sexual activity for 90 days before they are eligible to donate blood.

Other 12-month deferral periods have also been shortened under the new guidelines, including those for people who have traveled to areas with certain endemic diseases, those who have engaged in injection drug use and people who have participated in commercial sex work.

Under a regulation change in 2015, gay and bisexual had to refrain from sex for a year before they are permitted to donate blood.  This replaced a former 1983 ruling that stated gay and bisexual men could not donate at all which was leftover from the early days of the AIDS epidemic, when little was known about the disease or how to test for it.

The continued stigmatization of gay male blood donors in the 21st century is uncalled for and needlessly cruel especially since in this terrible time since all blood donations are screened for tested for syphilis, HIV, hepatitis, and HTLV (human T-lymphotropic virus), which can cause a blood or nerve disease.

U.S. Senators Urge Changes of Gay Donor Restrictions During Covid-19 Blood Shortage

U.S. Senators Urge Changes of Gay Donor Restrictions During Covid-19 Blood Shortage

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15 United States senators sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday urging authorities to “shift away from antiquated and stigmatizing donation policies” of blood donations by gay men during the outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

“We must take every possible step to secure our nation’s blood supply in this critical time,” the senators wrote, advocating for donation policies that are “scientifically sound, based on individual risk, and inclusive of all potential healthy blood donors.

Because of the lockdowns, social distancing and self-isolation to prevent coronavirus’ spread the American Red Cross reports it has resulted in the cancellation of 2,700 blood drives and 86,000 fewer donations.

Under a regulation change in 2015, gay and bisexual men must refrain from sex for a year before they are permitted to donate blood.  This replaced a former 1983 ruling that stated gay and bisexual men could not donate at all leftover from the early days of the AIDS epidemic, when little was known about the disease or how to test for it. Now all blood donations are screened for tested for syphilis, HIV, hepatitis, and HTLV (human T-lymphotropic virus), which can cause a blood or nerve disease.

Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., the first out lesbian elected to Congress, spearheaded the letter. Other signatories include Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

In a statement, Baldwin said she has “long fought to end discriminatory blood donation policies”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has created a nationwide blood shortage, and we must work to increase our nation’s supply based on science and facts. The FDA “needs to change their discriminatory blood donation policies to address this challenge and help save lives.”

United Kingdom Lifts Gay Blood Donation Ban But Only If They Are Celibate

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The United Kingdom has officially lifted its ban on blood and tissue donated by gay men.  Sort of….

A lifetime ban on blood donations by men who had had sex with another man was put in place in the UK in the 1980s as a response to the spread of AIDS and HIV.

The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (Sabto) new rules state that men who have not had homosexual sex within a year will be able to donate if they meet certain other criteria.  Men who have had anal or oral sex with another man in the past 12 months, with or without a condom, will still not be eligible to donate blood, the DoH said.

The move will be implemented in England, Scotland and Wales starting today

The Terrence Higgins Trust sexual health charity welcomed the change, which would ensure a safe blood supply that was also ‘fair and equal’.

But human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell called the 12-month ban on sex ‘excessive and unjustified’

Source

Video – American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer: “Homosexuality is a Death-style”

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Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association who sponsored Rick Perry’s “The Response” Prayer Rally today talked about  the government’s ban on blood donation from gays as the reason conservatives, or anyone for that matter, should not even have contact with homosexuals.  Fischer also went onto talk about a recent HIV study from the CDC and uses it to stoke racial homophobia of blacks against gays.

Oh and yeah, Fischer also talked about GOProud getting kicked out of CPAC.  But who really cares about that.

Sam Seder Talks About The Ban On Gay Blood – THAT’S BULLSHIT! (Video)

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In Sam Seder’s Bullshit series  he rails against the FDA’s decision to maintain the ban on gay blood. Seder spends much of the ripping and  attacking Obama’s “fierce advocacy.” (And rightfully so.)

“President Obama, if I may — what do you possibly gain by trampling the civil rights of gay and lesbian Americans?…I’m sorry, but pandering to people who think you were born in Kenya by crapping all over a community of people who campaigned for you, knocked on doors, raised money for you, and you won’t even allow them the dignity of donating blood? That’s bullshit.”

Homo Sat What? – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Votes To Keep Ban On Gay Blood

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The brillant minds on the advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has narrowly voted to KEEP the ban on blood donations from homosexual men. The vote was 7-6 to maintain the ban. Under the FDA’s rules, men cannot give blood if they have had sex with another man at least once since 1977.  They were considering changing the blood donation rule to ban only men who had had sex with another man within the past five years. The rule came into force originally in 1985 to protect the blood supply from HIV.

So the FDA will keep this discriminatory, stigmatizing and outdated rule while it allows other high risk groups such as prostitutes, intravenous drug users, and promiscuous heterosexuals have to wait only one year from their last high risk encounter.

So any whore who tricks with hundreds of diseased heterosexual men can give blood, but gay men, who have been tested and are monogamous, can’t.

NEVER FOGET WE ARE SECOND CLASS CITIZENS IN THE UNITED STATES!

Iceland anyone?

Food and Drug Administration To Re-Examine Gay Blood Ban

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Under mounting pressures from politicans  Federal health officials announced Friday that they would reexamine a 27-year-old set of restrictions on blood donations by gay men.

The restrictions, enacted in the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the United States, impose a lifetime ban on men donating blood if they’ve had sex with another man at any time since 1977.

Gay rights groups also have pushed for a change in the donor policy, arguing that it stigmatizes gay men and does not adequately address threats to blood safety posed by high-risk heterosexual behaviors and the American Red Cross, the American Assn. of Blood Banks and America’s Blood Centers, which collectively represent almost all blood banks in the country, have recommended loosening the restrictions to allow men who have abstained from gay sex for one year to donate blood.

Of course though, the FDA also re-examined the AIDS-crazed policy in 2006 … and did nothing.