The study ( ADVANCE: Assessing Donor Variability And New Concepts in Eligibility) is in collaboration with three of the largest blood centers in the United States (Vitalant, OneBlood, the American Red Cross) along with LGBTQ+ community centers across the country. Additionally, the FDA recently launched a study that could lead to the removal of restrictions on blood donations by gay and bisexual men by late 2021. Parental consent is required for blood donation by 16 year olds.
In 1983, the Federal Food and Drug Administration put guidelines in. A caveat to this, however, is sexual abstinence. To donate blood or platelets, you must be in good general health, weigh at least 110 pounds, and be at least 16 years old. State Senator Brad Hoylman who is openly gay, said he qualified to donate under the new rules and tried to give blood at a New York Blood Center facility on May 6 but was turned away. Gay and bisexual men are technically allowed to donate blood to the Red Cross. Then in April 2020, due to COVID-19, the deferral period was further shortened to three months by the FDA for healthy for gay men who want to donate blood and avert shortages. After taking your pulse, blood pressure, and temperature and checking for anemia, we will determine whether you are eligible to be a donor. Gay or bisexual men who have had sex with another man in the past 12 months are not allowed to donate blood, according to official rules from the U.S. The main argument for reducing the deferral period for men who have sex with men is that there are modern screening techniques that made a lengthy period of abstinence unnecessary. The blanket ban existed until 2015 and has since loosened to an abstinence period of one year for men who have sex men if they wanted to donate blood after years of campaigning by sexual health and LGBTQ+ organizations. The American Red Cross has declared a national blood crisis in the setting of decreased donations during the pandemic and an ever-rising number of hospitalized patients.
In the years since the blanket ban, it has been criticized as discriminatory federal guidelines against gay men.