It's Time to End the Federal Ban on Gay Blood Donations

by Michael Jones · 2009-09-09 15:52:00 UTC
Topics:

Blood

In 1983, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) instituted a discriminatory rule on blood donations that prohibited sexually active gay men from donating blood.  The thinking at the time, which was far more rooted in homophobia than medical fact, was that the majority of gay men were diseased and their blood contaminated with HIV.

Twenty-six years later, the U.S. still operates under this outdated and discriminatory policy, which leaves countless numbers of patients stuck without a blood or bone marrow donor.  That's why it's welcome news that states like California are taking up the call to push the FDA to end the ban on gay blood and bone marrow donations.

In California this week, the State Assembly passed a bill called the U.S. Blood Donor Nondiscrimination Resolution, which (while symbolic) would urge the federal government to do away with the 1980s ban on gay blood and bone marrow donors.  Equality California (EQCA), among other groups, have been helping to champion this bill all along, arguing that the fears about HIV transmission that resulted in the prohibition are no longer warranted.

"Today, a better understanding of the disease and significant innovations in blood screening technology make the fear of HIV/AIDS spreading through the blood supply nearly nonexistent," EQCA says. "The three major U.S. blood donation agencies, the American Red Cross, the American Association for Blood Banks, and America’s Blood Centers have found that the lifetime blood donation ban on men who have had sex with men is medically and scientifically unwarranted."

That's the key point, right?  Banning gay men from donating blood is not preventing HIV transmission, it's just fostering discrimination.  And this comes at a time when blood supplies continue to dip to dangerously low levels.  As EQCA notes, this year alone California had a record low four-hour supply left of Type-O negative blood, while in January some hospitals in New York had to ration their blood supplies for fear of running out.

California's State Assembly took the right step here.  It's a step that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius -- who oversees the FDA -- should be paying attention to.  If not for equal rights, then for the greater good of public health.

(Photo courtesy of Garrett Albright's photostream on Flickr.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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