The 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre brought attention to the “gay blood ban,” and activists urged the F.D.A. It was progress, but it basically only made a total ban into a partial one. finally lifted the ban, but required men who sleep with men to refrain from sexual contact for three months prior to donating blood. Unfortunately, the ban was upheld up until fairly recently. This policy was widely seen as discriminatory and was challenged in 2010 by a public health policy committee. imposed a ban on accepting blood donations from gay and bisexual men because of the AIDS epidemic. I asked infectious disease experts to explain why this policy exists.įirst, some historical context. But, is that it? It feels like running tests on blood shouldn’t be so challenging that systems such as the Red Cross wouldn’t be able to do so in a timely manner. One assumption as to why is that because MSM have a higher rate of HIV infection, that their blood has to be more carefully vetted. But despite the deep need for more people to donate blood ( and plasma, mind you), men who have sex with men (MSM) are still subject to a three month period of celibacy before they donate. The pandemic caused a drop in donations and now things have reached a crisis level. Health care facilities around the country are facing a blood shortage so intense that it’s requiring doctors to make hard choices about who gets blood transfusions and who does not.