Among the list of legal messes left by previous generations is the ban on blood donation by gay and bisexual men. The FDA’s guideline requiring these men to wait a full year before donating blood is a relic of a homophobic era and should be buried in the past with the attitudes that spawned it.
The FDA’s rules, which were drafted in 1985 and originally banned blood donations from gay men altogether, were updated as recently as December 2015. It references various statistics regarding the risk of HIV exposure among men who have sex with men, abbreviated as MSM.
Around 38,500 people in the U.S. are infected with HIV every year, and the CDC estimates that 56 percent of those cases include MSM, despite the cases of people contracting HIV through blood transfusion being extremely rare. While the risk in 1985 was an estimated one in 660,000, by 2003 that number fell to one in 1.8 million and has continued to shrink ever since. However, the FDA has not overturned the ban, but rather has reduced it to a 12-month ban.
The American Medical Association has denounced the restriction due to the dire need for blood and the safeguards in place to detect infected blood. According to the World Health Organization, across the world, hundreds of thousands of people die every year due to a lack of blood transfusions. The American Red Cross called for more blood donations as recently as July this year, and the blood shortage is only worsened when bans such as the FDA’s are in place.
Archaic rules like the FDA’s ban are more rooted in homophobia than fact. By drawing an artificial line between “gay blood” and “safe blood,” the FDA reinforces a false and dehumanizing view of gay and bisexual men, providing legal legitimacy to discrimination. These beliefs have no place in the modern world.
“The restriction that gay people can’t donate blood is discriminatory and based on false science,” senior interactive design major Sam Blake said. “As a society, we need all the donated blood we can get. It’s ridiculous to prohibit an entire category of people from donating when such donations would be completely safe.”
This restriction came to the forefront of the mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in June 2016, after which many gay and bisexual men were banned from giving blood despite the urgent calls from medical organizations for people to donate blood. The FDA’s policy was then subject to criticism by Democratic lawmakers, but the ban remained in place.
Every year, the Red Cross holds a blood drive at KSU. Due to the FDA’s ban, hundreds of gay and bisexual students are being denied the possibility to save lives, solely due to their sexuality. For students at KSU who feel they need help to navigate such a difficult situation, the university has various resources.
“The Offices of Cultural and Community Centers and Student Advocacy offer various educational workshops on how to engage in and work through difficult conversations,” Director of Cultural and Community Centers Dr. Matthew Robinson said. “In addition to these offices, students can seek support from the Dean of Students and Counseling and Psychological Services office.”
The failings of the previous generations to live up to our nation’s ideals of respect and equality are no reason we should not strive to reach those ideals ourselves. The FDA’s ban preventing gay men to donate blood is a legacy of American homophobia and must be removed in order for the nation to move beyond its hateful past.
