In a massive win for LGBTQ+ rights, the Food and Drug Administration has revealed plans to ease blood donation restrictions for queer men.
Since the 1980s, gay and bisexual men in the United States have been banned from donating blood due to stigma and the AIDS epidemic.
Over the last few years, the FDA has slowly started to ease their donation rules to include LGBTQ+ individuals. Back in 2015, the federal agency officially lifted its archaic ban and introduced a new policy that allowed gay and bisexual men who have been abstinent for a year to donate (per NPR).
The FDA temporarily adjusted the time frame to three months during the height of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic due to alarming blood shortages.