FDA Upholds Gay Blood Ban
The ban on blood donations from men who have slept with men since 1977 has been in place for 31 years, and was under discussion last week at the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA decided to uphold the ban, despite several suggestions and evidence to the contrary.
American Red Cross, America’s Blood Centers, the American Association of Blood Banks, and the American Medical Association all oppose the blood ban against homosexual men, and the reason why the FDA was considering the repeal of the ban was due to Department of Health and Human Services panel’s decision to allow gay men to donate blood if they’ve been celibate for one year.
The FDA does not necessarily need to heed the decisions by these panels and scientists, but they do more often than not. The FDA reasons for upholding the ban were varied with one panelist saying, “It sounds to me like we’re talking about policy and civil rights” and another saying the possible lift of the ban was “a leap of faith.”
Conversely, a straight man who has sex with an HIV-positive prostitute may donate blood after one year of the sex act, while a straight man with multiple sex partners has no deferral period.
[Opinion:]
It would seem the FDA is untrustworthy of gay men, thinking that they’d lie about their year’s-worth of celibacy before donation, but what’s stopping gay men from lying about their sexuality, straight people from lying about their frequency of prostitution visits, or just lying in general? All the blood is tested for HIV and other diseases and if you ask me, the FDA is continuing prejudice for prejudice’s sake.
