That stayed in place until 2020, when the FDA changed the policy one more time and it was updated to three-month deferral policy. The FDA moved to a one-year deferral policy for any man who has sex with another man. How have restrictions on gay and bisexual men changed since the 1980s? The FDA is doing this pilot study and in participation with three of the nation's largest blood centers, which is OneBlood, Vitalant and the American Red Cross. If there's opportunity for more people to be able to donate blood, that's a positive move. Less than 10 percent of the population donates blood. WLRN: Why should they sign up for this study?įORBES: What the participants get out of this is knowing that they are helping potentially move this policy. The following is an excerpt of their conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity. WLRN’s Verónica Zaragovia spoke to Susan Forbes, OneBlood's senior vice president of corporate communications and public relations, about the study, which seeks qualifying gay and bi men to participate in eight regions around the U.S., including Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Blood donation centers are hopeful for the change because the U.S. Now, a paid study, called ADVANCE (Assessing Donor Variability And New Concepts in Eligibility), is underway to determine whether blood centers could instead screen all people equally - if the FDA would agree to scrap these restrictions once it analyzes the data. In 2020, the FDA announced that it would change the restrictions on gay men once more, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Thank you.ĭecades passed before gay and bisexual men became eligible to donate blood again in 2015, but the FDA kept restrictions in place. As the pandemic continues, our mission is as vital as ever. WLRN is committed to providing South Florida with trusted news and information. This led to a lifelong ban in 1986 on gay and bisexual men from donating blood.Īt the time, organizations advocating for gay men worried that this ban on blood donations would stigmatize them further and boost homophobic attitudes, according to an analysis in the Milbank Quarterly. As HIV and AIDS began spreading across the United States, pressure began mounting in 1983 to prohibit men who had sex with other men from donating blood.