(Part 1 of long response) Hi friend! I saw you had some questions about the whole "gay people giving blood" thing. I am a phlebotomist for a very prominent blood bank in Texas, I have worked with this company for two years, and I'd like to offer some clarification (at least on how it is with my company, and the restrictions in place by the FDA on all blood banking in America). Yes, it is true, any man who has ever had sex with another man is not allowed to give blood. Any woman who has ever
had sex with a man who has had sex with another man is not allowed to give blood. The reason for this (the reason given, anyway) is indeed because of the risk of HIV. This is a restriction that the FDA has put on all blood banking companies, and in order to stay in business and continue providing life-saving products, we have to abide by anything the FDA tells us to do.
Here’s a short history behind this restriction: back in the ’80s, when HIV was first diagnosed in the US and began to become a major epidemic, before anyone really knew what it was or how it worked, the population that was predominately affected was the population of gay males. That is not to say that they were the only people affected, obviously they weren’t, but it affected gay males more than it affected other people (this has to do with anal sex, not gonna go into that, i’m sure you can get that part).
For a very long time, and even to a small (and sad) extent today, HIV was considered a “gay disease” by many bigoted, sadly misinformed people. However, if you look at statistics of people today who have HIV, it is very much no longer only affecting one demographic. Nowadays, anyone and everyone who is sexually active is at risk and can have HIV. The rule is incredibly outdated now, but in the past it made a little more sense.
The FDA has actually recently said that they have plans to release new guidelines and suggestions about gay men donating, but that’s something that will be happening in the future, and there’s still some kinks to be worked out before it all really makes sense. As of right now, any male who has ever had sex with another male, even once, is permanently deferred from donating blood. Do I personally agree with these restrictions? No, I do not. But that’s what the FDA tells all blood banking companies that they have to do, so we have to do it.
As far as the whole “lesbians can’t donate” thing, as far as my knowledge of my company and the FDA restrictions goes, that is not true. The ban only applies to males who have had sex with other males, and females who have had sex with males who have had sex with males. I know my company’s entire health history questionnaire backwards and forwards, and there is absolutely nothing restricting females who have had sex with other females from donating.
I’m terribly sorry for the long spam of messages, but I knew some information about your questions and I thought I could help clear things up a little. I hope this helped at all! I’d be happy to answer any other questions from anyone about the blood banking process (I very weirdly think my job is cool and I love talking to people about transfusion science and stuff.)
THANK YOU wow this is very comprehensive!
