Amidst the AIDS pandemic, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned gay and bisexual men from ever being eligible to donate blood to protect people receiving blood transfusions from the possibility of getting infected with HIV. Almost 30 years later, science has provided us with new drugs to better protect ourselves from HIV exposures and technology to improve HIV testing by providing quicker and more accurate results.

Today, men who have sex with men must defer from sex for three months if they want to donate blood – even if they’re in a monogamous relationship. In this episode, we’re discussing the evolution of the FDA’s guidelines for LGBTQ+ donors and how other countries have already eliminated deferral periods for men who have sex with men.

Additional Resources:

• Girls Gotta Eat: Going Off About Abortion Rights
• Wine & Crime: Forced Birth
• Gayish: Roe v. Wade (Shrinkage)
• LGBTQ+ Donors
• FDA Lifts Ban on Blood Donations By Gay and Bisexual Men
• The Evolution of HIV Testing
• Which HIV Tests Are Most Accurate?
• Types of HIV Tests
• Will's Not Done Fighting - Will & Grace (Episode Highlight)
• What Happens to Donated Blood
• Infectious Disease, HLA and ABO Donor Qualification Testing
• HRC - Blood Donations

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