More gay and bisexual men may be able to donate blood and plasma in 2023, reports CNN, noting that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has signaled that it may ease its policy on blood donations from men who have sex with men. Currently, men who have sex with men can donate blood and plasma if they haven’t had sex in the previous three months. The previous FDA recommendations required gay and bi men to abstain from sex for 12 months before donating blood, but when COVID-19 struck in 2020 and resulted in a blood shortage, the FDA eased the policy. In the near future, instead of enforcing another blanket blood ban like the three-month abstinence requirement on all gay and bi men, the FDA may implement a questionnaire that would assess individual risk. “As LGBTQ leaders and medical experts have been saying for years: Bans and restrictions on blood donations from gay and bisexual men are rooted in stigma, not science.

Source: ABC News December 02, 2022 21:14 UTC