Group Lauds Call for End to Gay Ban

The Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters’ Alliance (BGLTSA) have applauded last week’s decision by the American Red Cross to call for the end of a government ban on blood donations from men who have had sex with other men.

The ban, implemented in 1990, is a policy imposed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“I think the decision from the Red Cross is long overdue,” Ryan R. Thoreson ’07, one of the BGLTSA co-chairs, wrote in an e-mail.

BGLTSA co-chair Mischa A. Feldstein ’07 said the current restriction is “a needlessly stigmatizing ban that doesn’t make sense.”

Thoreson criticized the ban for the message it sends.

“I think the ban categorically associates gay and bisexual men with promiscuity and danger, which is incorrect, if not actually malicious,” he wrote. “These sorts of reactionary policies promote prejudice instead of actually taking steps to make the process safe.”

The BGLTSA has opposed the current policy for years, according to Thoreson.

In the past, the student group has organized awareness raising events around blood drives, said Feldstein, who is also a Crimson editorial editor.

The FDA defends the ban as a necessary precaution against sexually transmitted disease. “Although a potential individual donor may practice safe sex, persons who have participated in high-risk behaviors are, as a group, still considered to be at increased risk of transmitting HIV,” according to the FDA’s website.

Along with the Red Cross, two organizations—the American Association of Blood Banks and America’s Blood Centers—issued a joint statement last week that called for an end to the FDA ban.

“The current lifetime deferral for men who have had sex with other men is medically and scientifically unwarranted,” the statement said.

The statement also noted the negative consequences of the existing policy. “To many, this differentiation is unfair and discriminatory, resulting in negative attitudes to blood donor eligibility criteria, blood collection facilities and, in some cases, to cancellation of blood drives.”

The FDA policy was last reviewed in September 2000 when the Red Cross recommended against changing the policy because of the risk of introducing HIV-positive blood into the blood supply, according to Nicole Hyland, corporate communications specialist for the Red Cross.