Starting today, the Red Cross will use a more inclusive risk-based individual assessment to determine if someone is eligible to give blood, regardless of their sexual orientation.
Kody Kinsley, now the secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services, will actually be allowed to donate blood. Kinsley told CNN,
I’m excited that I’ll get to play my small part.”
Kinsley is gay. For nearly 40 years, guidance from the FDA banned most gay men from donating blood, even if they personally posed no threat to the blood supply. Kinsley said,
It’s really not people that are at risk. It’s about certain behaviors.”
Last January, when North Carolina was facing an unprecedented shortage of blood, Gov. Roy Cooper donated to raise awareness, and staff approached Kinsley to do the same. Kinsley said,
But I had in that moment a conversation I’ve had many times in my life, which is explain to people why I can’t take part in this community service to others because of a stigma-based policy that the FDA has maintained for 40 years.”
For two decades, gay artist Jordan Eagles has been using blood in his work to call attention to the FDA’s discriminatory blood donation policy. Photo, David Meanix
According to CNN,
The policy was created early in the AIDS epidemic, when the US surgeon general estimated 70% of people with HIV were gay or bisexual men. At the time, blood could be screened for HIV antibodies, but the test wasn’t perfect and could not catch every HIV infection.
Over the years, blood banks were better able to screen for HIV among gay and bisexual men, but still the FDA policy stayed the same. Rather than screen people out for risky behavior, it screened people out for who they were. Initially gay and bisexual men who had sex with men were banned for donating for life. Over the years, the ban eased a little, but still excluded most gay men from donating.
On May 11 the FDA caught up with science for the most part. Some gay men will still be excluded, even with the update.
Rodney Wilson, a senior biomedical communications specialist with the Red Cross says,
The Red Cross believes that this is one month is the most significant change in blood-banking in history. It makes blood donation more inclusive and it also keeps the blood supply safe.
We know that for many decades the FDA’s policies have obviously caused a lot of hurt to the LGBTQ community. And we recognize that and we regret that that has been the case. But what we want people to know is that everyone is welcome in our mission, whether you can give blood or not.”
There’s still more work to be done tho make blood bank donation more inclusive.”
The Red Cross thinks that new guidance should make (nearly) everyone feel welcome. Hey, it’s progress, although the stigma remains.
More gay men will be able to give blood as "one of the most significant changes in blood banking history" gets underway today. https://t.co/tQXy8YM3bp
— CNN (@CNN) August 7, 2023
(Photo, screen grab; via CNN)
