Congressman Schiff Introduces Resolution Highlighting Need for Nondiscriminatory, Equitable Blood Donation Guidelines

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena) and several other lawmakers introduced a resolution highlighting the urgent need for nondiscriminatory and equitable blood and blood product donation policies in the United States.

“There is a large contingent of healthy people that are ready, willing and able to donate blood and plasma, but antiquated regulations grounded in bigotry prevent them from doing so,” Schiff said.

“One year ago, the FDA (Federal Drug Administration) took an important first step towards eliminating the unscientific policy that blocks many gay and bisexual men from donating blood, and it’s time to move to a system that does not discriminate,” Schiff said. “We need science-based criteria that rely upon individual-risk assessments — especially as blood bank donation systems nationwide face shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, the FDA eased its restrictions on blood donations regarding gay and bisexual men. Under the new guidelines, a man who has had sex with another man can donate blood three months after his last encounter. Previously the wait was one year.

Between 1985 and 2015 men were banned from donating blood if they had sex with another man after 1977, even if a man had just one sexual encounter with another man.

The resolution underscores that policies governing blood and blood product donation should be grounded in science and based on individual risk factors that do not unfairly single out any group of individuals, particularly LGBTQ Americans.

The resolution was introduced nearly one year after the FDA shortened the deferral period for blood donations by men who have sex with men from 12 months to 3 months, and comes as the FDA evaluates further modifications to the current policies.

Among the organizations that have endorsed the newly introduced resolution are the Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, GMHC, the HIV Medicine Association, GLAAD, The Trevor Project, the Whitman-Walker Institute, Athlete Ally, GLMA, Health Professionals Advancing LBGTQ Equality, PFLAG National, the National LGBT Bar Association and Foundation, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Equality New York, and the Ali Forney Center. The resolution builds off of work the members have done in previous Congresses.

“Whereas the Williams Institute of the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law estimates that, based on the population of eligible and likely donors among the MSM (men who have sex with men) community, lifting the federal lifetime deferral policy on blood donation by an MSM could result in as many as 4,200,000 newly eligible male donors, of which 360,600 would likely donate and generate 615,300 additional pints of blood,” the resolution states.

Read the full text of the resolution here.