Story at a glance
- The American Red Cross said the United States is facing its “worst blood shortage in over a decade.”
- The Food and Drug Administration has restrictions prohibiting anyone who has had sex with a gay or bisexual man from donating blood for three months after.
- France announced Tuesday that starting in March gay and bisexual men in the country will no longer face restrictions donating blood.
Even after the American Red Cross declared its first national blood shortage on Tuesday, gay and bisexual men are still facing obstacles to donate.
The American Red Cross said the United States is facing its “worst blood shortage in over a decade,” having seen a 10 percent drop in blood donations since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, now further complicated by the current omicron surge.
However, as the plea for blood donations has grown, gay and bisexual men are often unable to donate as the Food and Drug Administration has restrictions in place that prohibit anyone who has had sex with a gay or bisexual man from donating blood for three months after. The restrictions stem from a fear that recent sexual activity among gay or bisexual men may result in HIV.
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These fears stem from the AIDS epidemic of the early 1980s, which was largely “associated with male-to-male sexual contact” at the time when little about the disease and its spread was understood. Gay and bisexual men were originally barred from donating blood at all in 1983, though the FDA reversed this in 2015, then allowing donation if there had been no male-to-male sexual contact within 12 months.
In November 2020, amid an “urgent need” for blood due to the coronavirus pandemic, the timeline was then changed to three months. Yet, LGBTQ+ advocates claim the restrictions still disproportionately bar gay and bisexual men from donating in a set of hypocritical circumstances.
“A man who has had protected oral sex with another man once in the 3 months currently barred from donating blood,” according to the Human Rights Campain website. “Yet a woman who has had unprotected sex with multiple partners over the same time frame with no knowledge of their personal histories remains in the donor pool.”
France announced Tuesday that, starting in March, gay and bisexual men in the country will no longer face restrictions donating blood.
“We are ending an inequality that was no longer justified,” France’s Health Minister, Olivier Véra wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., the American Red Cross stated it has a “less than a one-day supply of critical blood types.”
According to a February 2021 Gallup poll, 54.6 percent of LGBTQ+ adults identify as bisexual and 24.5 as gay.
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