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The American Red Cross is now allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood without restrictions that specifically single out a person’s sexual orientation or gender, the nonprofit group said Monday.
The Red Cross is implementing new Food and Drug Administration screening guidelines that apply to all potential donors and are based on an individual risk assessment. The Red Cross provides about 40% of the nation’s blood supply.
Under the new FDA guidelines, men in monogamous sexual relationships with other men are eligible to donate as long as they meet other screening criteria. Previously, men who had sex with men had to remain abstinent for three months before donating blood.
The three-month waiting period now applies to anyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender, who has had sex with a new partner or multiple people and has also had anal sex.
The Red Cross said in a statement that the organization understands the waiting period based on a history of anal sex appears to unfairly target gay and bisexual men.
The nonprofit group said it is working with the FDA to make the blood-donation guidelines more inclusive.
The FDA in May dropped a nearly 40-year policy that had singled out men who have sex with men as high risk to the blood supply over concerns about HIV transmission.
Gay rights groups and leading medical associations had long opposed this policy as unnecessary, unsupported by the current science and discriminatory.
The Red Cross is implementing new Food and Drug Administration screening guidelines that apply to all potential donors and are based on an individual risk assessment. The Red Cross provides about 40% of the nation’s blood supply.
Under the new FDA guidelines, men in monogamous sexual relationships with other men are eligible to donate as long as they meet other screening criteria. Previously, men who had sex with men had to remain abstinent for three months before donating blood.
The three-month waiting period now applies to anyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender, who has had sex with a new partner or multiple people and has also had anal sex.
The Red Cross said in a statement that the organization understands the waiting period based on a history of anal sex appears to unfairly target gay and bisexual men.
The nonprofit group said it is working with the FDA to make the blood-donation guidelines more inclusive.
The FDA in May dropped a nearly 40-year policy that had singled out men who have sex with men as high risk to the blood supply over concerns about HIV transmission.
Gay rights groups and leading medical associations had long opposed this policy as unnecessary, unsupported by the current science and discriminatory.
