Back in Colombia, the minimum age to donate blood was 18 years old, coinciding with the minimum legal drinking age and attending bars. The excitement to party causes a lot of expectancy to everyone’s 18th-year-old birthday, and although I love to party, I was looking forward mostly to be able to donate blood. As I was finishing the first semester of medical school, I had wanted to be a regular blood donor. I saw it as a way of walking the talk of being a physician that wanted to advocate for healthcare beyond the mere consult room, and to be honest, how much does it cost to most of us to donate blood? A few minutes of our time. How much does it mean to someone that needs it? Everything.
On my 18th birthday, before my party, the first order of business was to donate blood as I was finally eligible! I arrived with my mom at the Red Cross, and I filled out some questionnaires and headed to see the physician for further questions. As she reviewed my questionnaire, she mentioned that I had stated that I had sex with men; thus, I was not eligible to donate blood. I was in shock; I tried to explain that I have never had any risky behavior and that, at that recently, I only had sex with a woman. She then elaborated that even if it was with one man, I could not donate blood ever, as I was at risk of transmitting HIV or hepatitis. I then told my mom that my hemoglobin levels were low, so I needed to return in a few weeks. I must admit, this was a heartbreaking moment in my life, which added another layer of burden to the journey of self-acceptance as a bisexual man because my blood was undesirable because of who I am.
The emergency of the HIV and AIDS pandemic during the ‘80s initially identified groups that had a higher risk for having HIV and potentially transmitting it with blood transfusions; these were men who have sex with men (MSM), heterosexual commercial sex workers, and intravenous drug users.1To reduce the risk of transmissions, the FDA put a first donor deferral policy to identify if the persons were in the high-risk groups to prevent them from donating blood. Since 1985 and until December of 2015, the FDA recommended blood establishments to ban FOREVER, indefinitely, for a lifetime, male donors who had sex with another male, even if it was only a one-time encounter. The reason behind this preposterous and anachronic decision, according to the FDA, was “due to strong clustering of AIDS illness and subsequent discovery of high rates of HIV in that population (MSM).”2
In 1988 the Blood Donation Rules Opinion Study (BloodDROPS) found that the prevalence of HIV infection in men that reported male-to-male sexual contact was 0.25%, much lower than the previously thought 11-12%, which could have been a strong argument towards the discriminatory life ban of blood donation to MSM.1
In addition to prejudice-based decisions, a question arises, even if there is a higher prevalence in MSM, doesn’t HIV exist in heterosexual people? Doesn’t their blood get screened as well? Yes, HIV also exists in heterosexual people (currently account for 23% of all HIV diagnoses)3 and yes, ALL blood gets tested. Although surveys rely on the honesty of people and serve as a first screening, according to the CDC, all blood that is collected undergoes rigorous testing for HIV, Hepatitis B virus, HCV, HTLV, syphilis, West Nile virus, and Zika virus.4 Additionally, modern HIV tests can identify HIV as early as ten days after infection.
In 2015 the FDA lifted the lifetime ban for homosexual, bisexual, and MSM to donate blood, if they abstained from having sexual contact with other men for 12 months. Although an improvement from the previous ban, the policy was still highly discriminatory and baseless from science, as it assumes that all homosexual sexual interactions are high-risk interactions. This new policy meant that a male, homosexual, monogamous couple that takes drugs to prevent HIV (PreP) would not be able to donate blood if they did not abstain from sex for a year. Still, a man in a heterosexual monogamous couple that does not use protection was by default consider eligible for donation. Thus, once again, attaching the label of presumptive HIV carrier to all bisexual and gay men.
The latest change on these policies was last year during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Facing severe blood shortages nationwide, the FDA randomly reduced the deferral period of sexual abstinence from 12 months to 3 months; no new data was presented to suggest such changes. 4 Agreeing with what Jon Oliveira said to the American Journal of Managed Care regarding this abrupt policy change, “The FDA’s decision to ease restrictions on blood donations from men who have sex with men proves what medical experts have been saying for decades: that this ban is not based in science but rather discriminatory politics. The FDA’s policy change is a sign of progress—even if forced by the needs of the current crisis—but we must follow the science and continue fighting for a complete end to this archaic, demeaning ban.” 2
The risk of contracting HIV and other blood-transmitted diseases is not linked to one’s sexual orientation or gender identity. They are linked to the actions we take as individuals. Individualizing high-risk behavior (multiple partners, no condom usage, IV drug use, etc.) instead of stigmatizing a particular sexual orientation would still serve its purpose of screening before blood donation. It would allow thousands of bisexual and gay man that want to donate blood. It would put an end to a discriminatory policy that perpetuates the narrative of an unequivocal link between HIV and MSM.
But there is hope after all. While researching for this blog, I found that there is a multicenter clinical trial taking place in various cities ( San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orlean&Baton Rouge, Memphis, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Washington), named the ADVANCED study (Assessing Donor Variability And New Concepts in Eligibility). This pilot study is focused on the FDA’s deferral policy for MSM. The purpose of the study is to determine if different eligibility criteria for a bisexual and gay man can be used, such as an additional history questionnaire, to assess individual risk for HIV, instead of deferring our blood donation according to our last male-to-male sexual contact. The study will be groundbreaking and be the first big step towards changing blood donation eligibility criteria for bisexual and gay men.
I enrolled for the study and will have my first appointment in 3 weeks, I’ beyond thrilled to be part of this trial, so I encourage all bisexual and gay men who reside in these cities to participate in the study. The results of this study are likely to contribute and provide yet another evidence to make the FDA eliminate this prejudice ban permanently. We must gain our dignity in every field of life, and small steps such as getting equal treatment in blood donations is the right step forward.
ADVANCE study: https://advancestudy.org
References:
- https://www.fda.gov/media/92490/download
- https://www.ajmc.com/view/fdas-revised-blood-donation-guidance-for-gay-men-still-courts-controversy
- https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/data-and-trends/statistics)
- https://www.cdc.gov/bloodsafety/basics.html
- https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/21/health/fda-gay-men-blood-donation-changes/index.html
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