Red Cross eases blood donation rules for gay, bisexual men

The organization accounts for roughly 40 percent of all blood and blood components in the U.S.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its final guidance earlier this year recommending individual risk assessments for those who donate blood, instead of the gendered, time-based questions previously used for deferrals.
Under the FDA’s new guidance, individuals who report having a new sexual partner or more than one with whom they have had anal sex in the past three months will be deferred regardless of sexual orientation, sex or gender.
Under these rules, more men who have sex with men should be able to donate blood. This also means some heterosexual people may be deferred based on their recent sexual activity.
In its statement on Monday, the Red Cross included remarks from Andrew Goldstein, a cancer researcher who once regularly donated blood before being deferred due to the FDA’s previous, more restrictive guidelines.
“There’s so much in the world that you can’t help with, and you sometimes have to see people going through difficult times, but something like giving blood feels like something so small that you can do, and it means a lot to me that I’ll be able to do that again,” Goldstein said.
While LGBTQ stakeholders heralded these new restrictions as a step in the right direction, many say there are still improvements to be made.
The new guidance defers individuals who are taking PrEP for HIV, with the FDA citing concerns the medications may result in false negatives during HIV screenings. According to federal data, about 30 percent of individuals who stand to benefit from PrEP are currently taking it.
LGBTQ organizations have cited this issue as cause for further investment in screening technology.
Though the updated regulations are meant to be more welcoming, it remains to be seen if more men who have sex with men will now donate after decades of being excluded.
According to those in the blood donation sphere, how the individual risk assessments are conducted will determine if more gay and bisexual men give blood.