With the Red Cross declaring it’s first ever Blood Crisis, it is time to get rid of the donation restrictions on gay and bisexual men. Currently gay and bisexual men that have had sex with a man in the last three months cant donating blood in the US. This rule also applies to trans men (a female who lives as a man), but it doesn’t apply to Trans women (a male who lives as a woman). The criteria: Self Identification. As long as you identify as a woman, it is so according to the Red Cross. So, the question remains, why is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still using this homophobic restriction against gay men?
The History
In 1985, during the height of the AIDS crisis, the FDA made the rules that men who had sex with men, could not donate blood for the rest of their life; Even if it was only one time. This was done to prevent HIV infected blood from going to a patient in need. Thus, giving the patient the virus. At the time there wasn’t sophisticated testing, so they decided to limit who could donate based on risk levels. Even to this day 69% of new HIV cases are gay and bisexual men. Though with time, there has been advancements in testing, and all samples undergo a series of tests. Including multiple test for HIV. In 2015 the FDA made its first revision on their guidance. Any man who had abstained from sex with another man for a year was eligible to donate. This was further eased to three months in 2020, when Covid-19 depleted the blood supply. In 2021 the FDA launched the ADVANCE study to see if there was any need for the restrictions. The results were expected to be completed by December 2021, but were delayed due to a lack of participation.
The Trans Dilemma
In 2018 the FDA made a change to allow Transgender people to put down their gender on their paperwork, instead of biological sex. This creates a conundrum for Blood Donation centers. How do you enforce restrictions on gay and bisexual men, but not males who transition, but still have sex with men? The Red Cross policy states “Individuals who identify as female and have sex with a man, may be eligible to donate blood, if all other blood donation eligibility criteria are applicable.” A representative from the Red Cross told me, a male to female Transsexual, that ‘because I identify as female, I would receive the female form. The only question it would ask is if 'I had slept with a male, who has slept with another male in the last 3 months.’ When asked what the criteria is for this is, they said it is based on SelfID. Furthermore, female to male trans people are restricted the same as males. The Red Cross policy states “(trans) Individuals who identify as male and have had sex with another man within the past 3 months will be deferred under the MSM policy.” In 2020 a trans man tried to donate blood, and was denied unless he wrote that he was female on his paperwork. The logic behind the restrictions, as originally written, fall apart when you erase biological sex.
Conclusion
If a trans woman can simply SelfID out of safety restrictions, then they aren’t needed in the first place. The blood supply is dangerously low, and the FDA is waiting on a study to tell them what we already know. This policy could be reversed tomorrow if the administration wanted to. It is beyond time to lift the restrictions on Gay and Bisexual men from donating blood.
Trans Women can Donate Blood, While Restrictions Remain for Gay and Bisexual men.