Is it illegal to give blood if you are gay
After the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history killed 58 and injured around 530 people in Las Vegas Sunday night, blood banks in Nevada possess been inundated with people wishing to donate blood to help the victims.
But some people on social media, enjoy former NSYNC singer Lance Bass, own reported that they are unable to give blood at their local hospital or blood bank because they are gay.
Bass tweeted Monday:
Many other gay American men said they, too, would hold happily donated blood, but are prevented from doing so because of the law.
Here is what you need to know about about the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) ban on same-sex attracted blood donation.
What the law says
Under federal law, men who have sex with other men (MSM) cannot give blood for 12 months from their last sexual encounter.
Men who have not been sexually active with another guy in the 12 months prior to potential blood donation may be approved as a donor.
This law only came into effect in December 2015, when the FDA revised its rules and overturned a previous lifetime ban on accepting donations from MSM.
That ban was imposed in 1983 during the AIDS epidemic because authorities believed MSM were at greater
New Zealand: Why Can’t Gay Men Donate Blood?
In New Zealand, you are not allowed to donate blood “following oral or anal sex with or without a condom with another man (if you are male)” for 12 months. This ‘men who have sex with men’ (MSM) ‘deferral’ process as it is commonly established as, has a similar wait moment in countries such as Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States. However, it is of the view of myself that this needs to change and these laws should be loosened. Currently, countries like Argentina, Italy and Spain include no deferral process for MSM blood donors. Not surprisingly, Italy specifically has not seen any incremental increase in the amount of blood donations hold the HIV virus.
What is ludicrous is that while the only possible argument for the banning is to prevent the spread of the HIV virus, this is not a universal criteria. There is no check on heterosexual men at current. Further, there is currently no restrictions on people who take recreational drugs (excl. injected), haemorrhoids, gout, diabetes, herpes among others. Further, people who hold contracted chlamydia only have to hold on 4 weeks until donating.
So why can’t gay men donat
When Stigma Trumps Science in Blood Donations
Plaintiffs File Federal Suit to Overturn Tennessee’s Aggravated Prostitution Statute
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Tennessee’s Aggravated Prostitution statute and connected sex offender registration requirements are unconstitutional and violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), according to a federal lawsuit filed today against the mention by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Non-binary Law Center, and the ACLU of Tennessee in the U.S. District Court in Memphis on behalf of four Jane Doe plaintiffs and OUTMemphis, the state’s oldest and largest service provider for Queer people. Plaintiffs argue that the Aggravated Prostitution statute is rooted in hesitate and discrimination, targeting people living with HIV for harsh punishment and forcing them to register as “violent sex offenders” for the rest of their lives. Criminalizing people with HIV defies evidence-based optimal practices and is patently unlawful as it singles out people living with HIV — a protected disability — for harsher punishment. “People convicted of Aggravated Prostitution must disburse years in prison and then register as vicious sex offenders for the rest of
Unilad's Illegal Blood Bank
Every year the blood banks need 135,000 fresh donors to match claim and replace those who no longer can donate. NHS Blood state they need 30,000 more O-negative blood type donors every year. The UK regularly gets low on stocks for blood. If everyone gave blood - we’d be fine right ... but we can’t. At current, sexually active lgbtq+ and bi men CANNOT donate their blood, even if their blood is healthy and fit for use.
Unilad and The Investigate Donors have teamed up to produce a unusual campaign to tackle this ruling. There are thousands of fit, healthy and sexually safe sexually active gay and bi men who’s blood is simply being denied. The campaign sets out to demonstrate an assessment process that is focused on the individual's lifestyle habits rather than their sexual orientation ruling that prevents men from having sex.
I’m the founder of creative agency and web design agency Charle, based in London. As a proud same-sex attracted man, when I heard what unilad were doing - I just had to be involved. On Saturday 23rd November - I donated a pint or my
I’m a gay man, and I can’t donate blood.
It often comes as a surprise to people when I explain that lgbtq+ or bi men who have had sex with another man in the last three months can’t donate. I was surprised myself when I first found out there were restrictions. My journey into the complex world of blood donation, window periods on blood-borne viruses and the intricacies of health policy began from an unexpected moment in my kitchen.
I was standing there, looking down at a questionnaire which, at the time, asked if I had had sex with a man in the previous 12 months. Now, I’m not one to brag about my sex life, but one dude a year even by my standards seems enjoy quite the dry patch. The impact of this question though had some pretty personal implications for me.
The reason I was reading these questions in the hope of donating blood was because of a pact my parents and I had made. It came about because of a major operation my Grandad had recently undergone, requiring almost 8 pints of blood. I was super fasten to my grandparents, both emotionally and physically, given they lived a hundred metres or so away from where I grew up. They were favor a second set of parents to me, so t