LGBTQ Blood

In 1986 the FDA announced a policy saying that men who have sex with other men are barred from donating blood. This was a response to the AIDS crisis. In 2015 the policy was changed to if a donor was celibate for a year, then they could donate blood no matter what their sexual orientation. In 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic it was announced that if you were celibate for 3 months then you were allowed to give blood. After having a massive decline in the people who donated blood, the Red Cross declared a blood donated by gay and bisexual men.

​

Because of this ban the donation pool shrunk and caused people facing emergencies and people needing routine procedures to be delayed. This being apparent in the case of Charley Chance. She is an infant that was battling leukemia, which is blood cancer, so she needed several blood transfusions. One day she started throwing up blood for several days in a row when she was taken to the hospital, they were told that they could not give her platelet transfusion because they only had 9 bags of blood for both the adult and children's hospital, and they had to save it for more serous patients. When her condition got more serious, they were able to move her up the transfusion list and she was able to get her platelet transfusion she needed. This is one story of hundreds that was faced with the struggles of the blood crisis. The ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood has ended but it is important that we remember it so that history does not repeat itself.

​

Sources

Federal Agency for Food and Drug Administration, "Have you given blood", January 11, 2024, https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/have-you-given-blood-lately

​

Bayer, Ronald, "Science, Politics, and the End of the Lifelong Gay Blood Donor Ban", 2015, https://www.milbank.org/quarterly/articles/science-politics-and-the-end-of-the-lifelong-gay-blood-donor-ban/#:~:text=On%20December%2023%2C%202014%2C%20Dr,the%20present%20from%20donating%20blood

​

Kaiser Family Foundation, "The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic", July 25, 2024, https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/fact-sheet/the-global-hiv-aids-epidemic/

​

University Blood Initiative, "The History of MSM Discrimination", November 27, 2020, https://www.univeritybloodinitative.org/post/the-history-of-msm-discriniation

​

Gennady Vulakh, "Gay Blood Donors: Benching Our "Heroes"?", Undergraduate Writing Series, October 6, 2022, https://nursingclio.org/2022/10/06/gay-blood-donors-benching-our-heroes/

​

Sam Gavzy, July 13, 2013, The New Yorker, https://media.newyorker.com/photos/590952ab6552fa0be682c30f/mater/w_2560%2Cc_limit/blood-drive-protest-580.jpg

​

Georgios Karamitros, Ioanna Karamitrou, Nikolaos Kitsos, "The ban on blood donation on men who have sex with men:time to rethink and reassess an outdated policy", National Library of Medicine, June 8, 2017, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5554671/

​

"Red Cross: National blood crisis may put patients at risk", American Red Cross, January 11, 2022, https://www.redcrossblood.org/local-homepage/news/article/red-cross--national-blood-crisis-may-put-patients-at-risk.html

​

"What Does Emergency Blood Shortage Mean", American Red Cross, August 21, 2024, https://www.redcross.org/local-homepage/news/article/blood-stortage-explained-rcbs.html

​

Phillips Briana, "Tennessee Family Fighting Pediatric Cancer Explains How the National Blood Donation Crisis Affects their Child's Care", American Red Cross, January 19, 2022 https://www.redcross.org/local/tennessee/about-us/news-and-events/press-releases/family-explains-how-the=blood-crisis-affecrs-their-child-s-care.html?srsltid=AfmBOop4JENrFbAM5TtlOdsBbQd1JOMcEeld8NtovR64ql_SnVJXQ2jB

​

"Leukemia", Cleveland Clinic, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4365-leukemia

​

Simon Toby L., "Where have all the donors gone? A personal reflection on the crisis in America's volunteer blood program" Wiley online library, February 06, 2003, https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/doi/full/10.1046/j.1537-2995.2003.00325.X

​

Murphy, Timothy F. Ethics in an Epidemic: AIDS, Morality, and Culture. 1st ed., University of California Press, 1994. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.20307/jj.2392285. Accessed 14 April. 2025.

​

Spekman, Marloes L C et al. "New blood donors in times of crisis: Increased donation willingness, particularly among people at high risk for attracting SARS-CoV-2."Transfusion vol. 61, 6 (2021): 1822-1829. doi: 10.1111/trf.16334

​

Polaneczky, Ronnie. "Philadelphia Daily News Ronnie Polanecky Column: Ronnie Polaneczky: Ban on Blood from Gay Donors must Go." McClathcy - Tribune Business News, 15 jan., 2009. ProQuest, https://login.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/philadelphia-daily-news-ronnie-polaneczky-column/docview/46255732/se-2.