The American Red Cross is now allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood without restrictions that specifically single out a person’s sexual orientation or gender, the nonprofit group said Monday.

    • DaCookeyMonsta@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I think it was set up when AIDS was spreading amongst the gay community before they had a test for it.

      Of course, now they can both test for it and it spread well beyond the gay community for a while so it’s ridiculous that it was still a thing.

      • JustAManOnAToilet@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        They just removed restrictions for Brits that were in the UK between 1980-1996 too, so I guess they’re just getting around to opening things up and this was on the list.

        • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Is the UK 1980-96 thing being removed too? That’s cool.

          Not just brits btw, but anyone who spent an extended time in the UK in the 80s/90s. IRC due to fears about CJD/Mad Cow’s Disease.

        • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I was stationed in UK and couldn’t donate blood as a result. That was only ten years ago. Since they opened it back up I am getting constant calls to donate.

    • ZodiacSF1969@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Why? AIDS was a devestating epidemic. The blood banks were slow to act at all, and as a result many haemophiliacs acquired the disease and died. Gay men were the largest risk group for spreading and contracting it, so it makes sense to screen them out.

      • Microw@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        It made sense in a crisis situation 40 years ago. It made zero sense the last few years to have such a discriminatory rule that also neglected to prevent risk from heterosexual anal sex.

    • ryannathans@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      In my country gay men account for 90% of all HIV infections. It’s very hard to ensure blood is free of HIV, as blood is infectious within three months of infection but won’t test positive