DHS Publishes Draft Guidance On Blood Ban For Gay And Bisexual Men

On May 12 the Department of Health and Human Services published draft guidance on their proposal to move from a lifetime blood donation ban for all gay and bisexual men to a one-year deferral period.
In December 2014 when the Food and Drug Administration first announced the proposal, the ACLU concluded that the deferral would continue to function as a de facto lifetime ban, and that criteria for determining blood donor eligibility should be based on science, not stereotypes.
"As the ACLU made clear late last year, this inadequate proposal must be seen as part of an ongoing process and not an end point. Deferral decisions should be based on activities presenting an elevated risk, not on the identity of a person or that person's partner. The reality for the vast majority of gay and bisexual men is that this policy continues to stigmatize their intimate relationships and will indefinitely bar them from donating. In addition, this proposal leaves open the possibility that transgender individuals will continue to be needlessly barred from being able to donate," said Ian Thompson, legislative representative for the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Williams Institute at UCLA estimates this revised policy will continue to exclude over two million men whom otherwise would be eligible to donate, depriving our hospitals of nearly 300,000 pints of blood.
The draft guidance is up for a public comment period of at least 30 days.