Twitter takes a stand against FDA’s ban on gays donating blood

Twitter has had it officially with the Food and Drug Administration’s policy banning gay people from donating blood. Brian Schipper, the social media giant’s Vice President of Human Resources, told The International Business Times that an employee of the company was turned away from donating due to their sexuality.

Since then, Twitter has decided to stop hosting blood drives until the FDA lifts the ban on gay men from donating blood. The ban, which emerged during the HIV epidemic in the 1980s, states that gay and bisexual men who have had sex with other men “at any time since 1977″ (the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the United States) are currently deferred as blood donors. The reasoning is that gay men are “at increased risk for HIV, hepatitis B and certain other infections that can be transmitted by transfusion.”

Twitter, obviously, disagrees.

“We made the choice to take a company stand against some of our employees being turned away from donating blood, and will channel our efforts into education about this issue until this unnecessary and discriminatory policy is changed,” Schipper told IBT.

As well as actively educating other employees about the gay blood ban, TwitterOpen has been promoting GLAAD’s change.org petition, which is calling for the FDA to stop discriminating, and start screening male blood donors equally. However, the FDA recently announced that the would be adopting similar rules to England, Scotland and Wales, where gay and bisexual men are allowed to donate blood, but only if they stay celibate for one year.

So, how about it boys?

Also, if you’re still confused about the ban, check out the video below.