Ten members of Congress have written
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reexamine its ban on gay
and bisexual men donating blood.
The letter was drafted by
Representative Mike Quigley, a Democrat from Illinois, and signed by
ten members of Congress, including two of Congress' three openly gay
members – U.S. Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Jared Polis,
D-Colo.
Aviva Gibbs, communications director
for Quigley, told On Top Magazine in an email that the
congressman “felt [the ban on gay blood donation] was another
important part of the fight against discrimination and wanted to
encourage the FDA to bring their policies up to date.”
In the letter, Quigley called on the
FDA to “reexamine its antiquated, discriminatory deferral policy
that currently prevents healthy, disease-free men who have had sex
with other men from donating blood” and called the agency's policy
on donating blood “inconsistent.”
“The FDA's current policy permanently
bans men who have had sex with men from donating blood, while still
permitting heterosexual individuals who have had sex with an
HIV-positive partner to donate samples after a one-year deferral
period.”
“For many individuals this permanent
ban is seen as unfair, discriminatory and serving to simply
perpetuate the negative stereotype that all men who have sex with men
are HIV positive,” the letter says.
The FDA first banned gay and bisexual
men from donating blood at the height of an AIDS transfusion scare in
the 80's. Since then, Quigley argues, scientific advances allowing
for the proper screening of blood for HIV, the virus that causes
AIDS, have kept the nation's blood supply safe.
The letter was addressed to the
recently sworn-in FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, a former New
York City Commissioner of Health known for her progressive views on
combating the AIDS pandemic, including opposing abstinence-only AIDS
education and supporting needle exchange programs.