The Red Cross implemented new guidelines starting this week which will allow more gay and bisexual men to give blood. According to CNN, in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, gay and bisexual men were basically banned from donating blood because the surgeon general estimated that 70% of people with HIV were gay men, and the tests to check blood for HIV were not perfect.
According to NPR, the guidelines were last updated in 2020 allowing gay and bisexual men to give blood after three months of abstaining from sex with another man. The new guidelines, which were first announced in May and are just now being enacted, will involve asking more specific, individual questions about each potential donor’s sexual history. Under the new guidelines, male donors will not be allowed to donate if they had more than one male partner in the past three months or if they had anal sex with a new male partner in the past three months.
“The American Red Cross is now welcoming more donors into its lifesaving mission through updated FDA blood donation eligibility guidelines that eliminate longstanding broad, time-based deferrals based on sexual orientation,” the Red Cross said in a statement. According to CNN, several other blood donation centers intend to adopt the guidelines soon, including OneBlood and America’s Blood Centers.
Back in May, GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)—who have been urging the FDA to change the guidelines—released a statement applauding the FDA’s easing of restrictions, but still argued that it didn’t go far enough. “The FDA’s decision to follow science and issue new recommendations for all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation, who selflessly donate blood to help save lives, signals the beginning of the end of a dark and discriminatory past rooted in fear and homophobia.” But GLAAD did call out the FDA for their guidance regarding PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis.
PrEP helps prevent the spread of HIV, and therefore is taken by many gay and bisexual men. However, according to the aforementioned CNN article, the new guidelines will defer anyone taking PrEP on the basis that the FDA believes that PrEP could cause a false negative on an HIV test. This may be an unnecessary precaution, as even the CDC has found that PrEP is nearly 100% effective in preventing HIV.
Jason Cianciotto, vice president of communications and policy with GMHC (formerly Gay Men’s Health Crisis)—the first HIV/AIDS service organization in the world—told CNN in the aforementioned article that deferring people on PrEP perpetuates the same stigma that the previous guidelines did. “It’s perfectly reasonable for an individual to think, ‘OK, well, I’m taking PrEP, and I’m told that that makes it nearly impossible for me to contract HIV, and I’ve been taking it as has been prescribed, and I’ve been going to my doctor’s appointment, and that means I’m getting HIV tested at least four times a year, as well as testing for other STIs. So I know more about my health than many other people who aren’t taking PrEP, and now I can finally donate,’ and they’re going to get there, and they’re going to find out they can’t,” Cianciotto explained.
