Gay men can’t donate blood to victims of the Orlando shooting

Everyone’s first response after an atrocity like this is to ask how they can help. Gay and bisexual men are stymied in their efforts to do so by an outdated law.

Gay and bisexual men who want to give today are encountering an obstacle: the FDA requires a year of celibacy before men who have sex with men can donate blood.

These new rules were put into practice in late 2015. They were presented as an end to the ban on gay men’s blood – but they still mean even gay men who have been in a completely monogamous relationship for a year are barred from donating.

Read more at theguardian.com

Photo By Lance Cpl. Shawn Valosin (https://www.dvidshub.net/image/1189257) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons