The Food and Drug Administration proposed an update to its blood donation policy that is expected to take effect after a public comment period.
Current rules allow gay men to donate blood if they’ve had no sexual contact with another man in three months. That policy, which went into effect in 2020, replaced a decades-old AIDS-crisis policy that forbade blood donations by any man who had ever had sex with another man, a policy that predates HIV testing.
The new guidelines focus on sexual behaviors by people, regardless of gender, that pose a higher risk of contracting and transmitting HIV. Anyone taking HIV medication, including those who are negative and on PrEP, would still be prevented from donating blood. Also excluded would be anyone who has had anal sex with more than one person over the past three months.
Donated blood is routinely tested for HIV.
— David Taffet
