FDA to recommend end of ban on blood donations from gay/bisexual men

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Homosexuals infecting muh blood bags with the AIDS syrup!!!!

AIDS doesn't come from a syrup. It comes from a virus. 

[© tweed]

the correct term here is not "gay" or "bisexual", it's Men who have sex with men.

[Joe Republic]

Homosexuals infecting muh blood bags with the AIDS syrup!!!!

AIDS doesn't come from a syrup. It comes from a virus. 

Thanks for the clarification! xx

[retromike22]

Still isn't a fair plan IMO. They have to have no had sexual contact within the last year to be able to donate.

Oh darn

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I understand the issue with AIDS being more prevalent in the gay community. What I never understood with this ban is that if whatever mechanism they use on straight donators wouldn't work to prevent infected blood from gay people then it wouldn't work in the status quo for straight people either. Which then in turn sounds pretty scary.

The ban was put in place before there was an effective screening test for HIV in blood.  Banning blood from groups with a much higher prevalence of the disease made sense then.  Bureaucratic inertia combined with the fact that going from a lifetime ban to a one-year ban will mean that the increase in blood supply will be so minimal as to be almost unnoticeable to make raising the ban a very low priority.  The symbolism, while not unimportant, of lifting the lifetime ban is the primary reason for doing so.

[Holmes]

Well at least lifting the ban in favor of a one year deferral means that most forum gays can now donate blood.

[NewYorkExpress]

I'd argue fair, would be the "definitive" three month timeline for HIV mentioned earlier, not a year... but take what you can get here, I suppose.

[tik 🪀✨]

I'm sure the vampires will appreciate the increase in available blood; it might even have a better taste. Fruity and all.

Something tells me your blood tastes like athlete's foot.

If I recall correctly, self reporting has always been the standard way of checking this anyway, so you could already donate blood if that was of a higher moral priority to you than lying. I recall being rather taken aback when I discovered I couldn't donate as a bisexual..  then I realized I'd never had sex with a man anyway so I could just declare myself straight. Still, it felt degrading, so this gesture is positive.