FDA Contact Info.: Office of Communication, Outreach and Development, 1-80 or 24 or email more information, we encourage you to visit the diversity and inclusion page on our website. Blood donation guidelines for gay men were first implemented as the HIV/AIDS crisis unfolded in the 1980s and initially constituted a lifetime ban for gay men. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said it would loosen some of the restrictions that have blocked gay and bisexual men from donating blood. We recommend contacting FDA directly if you’d like to learn more details about the deferral, the current epidemiological data they base it on, and how they continuously reevaluate safety guidelines. The policy change shortens the deferral criteria for Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) from twelve months to three months. The FDA did change the rule to be less restrictive from a lifetime deferral to a three-month deferral, and we were happy to make that change. If the FDA changes the regulation again, we will certainly follow their guidance. Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday that a 12-month deferral period for gay and bi men to give blood was unconstitutional, a policy LGBT+ campaigners had long argued was discriminatory given. Food and Drug (FDA) announced changes to its donor eligibility policy titled: Revised Recommendations for Reducing the Risk of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Transmission by Blood and Blood Products. Deferral is not for being gay, rather, specifically, for men having sex with other men within the last three months.Īs with other blood centers across the country, we must follow the FDA rules for licensure. The FDA, not the Rhode Island Blood Center, sets national blood safety regulations. Today, if you're a sexually active gay man, you are prohibited from giving. The donation ban was initially for life, but that policy was first eased in 2013, when men who had sex with men were allowed to donate after being abstinent for five years. And last year, in response to urging from activists and health professionals, the FDA rolled back the prohibition period to one year, but required gay male donors to be sexually abstinent for a year prior to making a blood donation. Per the FDA Guidelines, the Rhode Island Blood Center accepts blood donations from men who have had sex with another male, as long as the male-to-male sex occurred at least three months prior to giving blood. Please call 40 if you have been deferred in the past or if you have any questions. Several changes were later made to the blood donation regime until deferral periods for donations by gay men were lowered from a lifetime ban to three months in 2019.