Ban On Gay People Donating Blood Could End
18 Senators On Board To Change Policy
POSTED: Friday, March 5, 2010
UPDATED: 8:39 am EST March 5, 2010
A Michigan Senator is one of 18 who is looking to change a policy than bans gay people from donating blood.
Sen. Carl Levin, along with the other lawmakers, said things have changed since the ban was put in place in 1983 at the height of the HIV-Aids epidemic.
Those who wish to donate blood undergo two different, highly accurate tests that make the risk of tainted blood entering the blood supply virtually zero, according to the letter written to the Food and Drug Administration.
The lawmakers said hospitals are in such a need for blood donations and healthy donors are being turned away based on their sexual orientation.
Brian Moulton, chief legislative counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, said they are hopeful the policy will change.
The FDA said in a statement, "While FDA appreciates concerns about perceived discrimination, our decision to maintain the deferral policy is based on current science and data and does not give weight to a donor's sexual orientation."
The policy was last reviewed in 2006.
Sen. John Kerry compared the effort to lift the blood donation ban to legislation he backed in 2008 to end the law banning people with HIV from traveling and immigrating to the United States. That ban was lifted last year.
