Sarah Warbelow, legal director for Human Rights Campaign, joins Cheddar News to discuss why advocates want to overturn the FDA's rule restricting gay and bisexual men from donating blood. 

Between Bells

Advocates Push to Lift the FDA's Discriminatory Blood Donor Policy

everyone between bells and baker machado in new york and despite pride month being filled with honoring trailblazers in the community and the progress that's been made. Well, there's still a number of hurdles that members in the community still face today. And one of those being the FDA is rule that denies gay and bisexual men from donating blood. That was a national blood shortage. Crisis continues to grow. Advocates are now pushing for a revision in the antiquated policy joining us now discusses Sarah war below Legal director for the Human rights campaign. Sara, such a pleasure to have you here. Thanks so much for joining us. So according to the american right cross every two seconds, somebody in this country needs blood. So how would changing these restrictions for gay men? Increase the blood supply here? There are many gay men who are otherwise eligible to donate blood. Um, they are not at risk of contracting HIV or AIDS. They do not have HIV or AIDS. Um, and clearing the path for them to be able to donate blood will mean that there are more eligible folks who will be donating blood. In addition, we know that there have been some individuals because they're offended by the policy who themselves have declined to give blood even though they are not gay or bisexual themselves. Um, you know, we hope that all people will be donating to the blood supply, but that will clear the path for those folks who are essentially protesting. Uh, the policy to donate as well. Okay, so let's talk about this policy because you know, there was a Tiktok that went viral a little while ago Of of a gay man who said his roommate who has slept with close to 100 girls was able to go and donate blood, but because he had slept with a male 10 years ago, he was unable to donate blood. So let's talk about this policy and how antiquated this is. Yeah, so the policy was developed at a time when the United States had less of an understanding about HIV AIDS, how it was contracted. Um and of course the risk of contracting HIV AIDS was much greater uh more of a death sentence in the early years. Um And so today, what this policy does is it perpetuates a stigma against gay and bisexual men and frankly perpetuates the stigma against individuals who are HIV positive as well. Um and so today it is outdated. It is not in keeping with the best science that is out there And it's not consistent with the statements and policies that have been adopted by many other countries. So I guess the big question is, is why in 2022 Sarah when I can go and get married in any, any state in this country, but can't donate blood. How is this still a law to this day? Mhm. Um you know, one of the reasons for it is that agencies can often be slow to move. Um they haven't prioritized this issue. Um and they always want more and more science and data but the data is there. The science is there. Um And you know when we're talking about policies around blood, we always wanted to be driven by the science but the science shows that this is a discriminatory policy. Is this also a Washington thing? Could this be fixed by an act by Congress? Could this be fixed by president biden? Is this something that Washington could actually do to remedy the situation? Certainly Congress could take action here but it really isn't needed. The agency is well poised to be able to change this on their own. You know they are hearing from folks that this is important and something that they should be doing. Um And in fact the original policy has already been changed multiple times. So at one point it was a lifetime deferral then it was brought down to a one year deferral. It is currently a three month deferral. And so the agency has taken some preliminary steps and now we really need them to take that final step of doing away with this discriminatory policy. And obviously the human rights campaign, you know working on behalf of the L. G. B. T. Q. Community to get this revised. How optimistic are you that maybe that policy would get revised that final hurdle is basically done here. Mhm. Well the agency is undergoing a study. It's called the advanced study um where they're really looking at how changing the policy would work in practice in many cities across the United States. And we would very much encourage any gay or bisexual man who is eligible to participate in the study um to do so. Um you can go to HRC dot org and type in advance um and you will find all the information to find out whether or not you're eligible and whether or not you live in a city in which the research is being done um, you know, helping to participate in this research and finalize this research will certainly give the agency even more encouragement to go ahead and change this policy. And Sarah this of course, all happening as the american red Cross is saying we're going through the worst blood shortage in over a decade. How did we get here? Why are we such a blood shortage? What happened that got us to this moment here? Mm hmm. You know, I am not an expert in the overall blood supply. Um but certainly when we have folks who are struggling with a pandemic, are not leaving their houses is frequently. It is probably not top of mind that the blood supply still needs to be um supplemented uh, and that we need to have it for any emergency situation that might come along. All right. Sara war below is the legal director for the Human rights campaign, Sarah. Thank you so very much for joining us here