“This new policy urges a federal policy change to ensure blood donation bans or deferrals are applied to donors according to their individual level of risk and are not based on sexual orientation alone.” William Kobler, AMA board member in a statement.
“The lifetime ban on blood donation for men who have sex with men is discriminatory and not based on sound science,” said Dr. Last year, the American Medical Association (AMA) voted to end the ban, recognizing the new techniques available to detect HIV in donated blood. “We have enough to contribute to the offset of blood shortages.” “It completely alienated me from the rest of my coworkers, and I felt like a different species,” says Yeznak, who has created a documentary on the topic. The National Gay Blood Drive began when gay rights activist Ryan James Yezak felt humiliated at work when he was one of the only people who could not donate blood to tornado victims three years ago.
If the petition gets 100,000 signatures by July 30, the Obama administration will issue a response. The group also launched a White House Petition on July 1 calling on the FDA to change its policy.