Bear blood gay

Ring the LGBT community center bells and uncork the poppers! Did you hear? Gay men can donate blood now! After decades of being prohibited from donating by the Food and Drug Administration under a discriminatory "lifetime deferral" clause, the FDA now says gay blood is A-OK! Wait, what?

Since the novel coronavirus began spreading across the United States this year, Welch has again been doing everything he can to be of service, including working with the nonprofit Partners in Health to direct contact tracing efforts in Massachusetts. Until this year, the Food and Drug Administration required men who have sex with men MSMs to refrain from same-sex intimacy for a year before donating blood and plasma, but after the American Red Cross warned of a blood shortage resulting from the cancellation of nearly 2, donor drives in mid-March, it shortened the deferral period to three months. Do you have a coronavirus story you want to tell? Gay and bisexual men providing frontline care during the COVID crisis said they bear the weight of the seeming double standard in public health policy. Even though their labor is essential in responding to a pandemic that has claimed nearly 60, lives domestically, large segments of the LGBTQ community remain prevented from full participation. Carl Streed Jr.

Read more. Since then, the work continues to evolve eligibility criteria based on the latest scientific evidence, as well as new developments and research into alternative screening methods. Chief Scientist Dr.

Food and Drug Administration is dramatically relaxing its restrictions for blood donations, as blood supplies across the U. Before the COVID pandemic, gay and bisexual men would have to abstain from sexual activity for a year to donate blood. The FDA has since shortened that period to 3 months.