Local gay couple among first to donate blood under new FDA policy
A gay couple from Reston, Va., became one of the first gay or bisexual men in the D.C. area to donate blood on Aug. 7, on the first day that the American Red Cross implemented the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration’s new guidelines for blood donor eligibility. The new guidelines, approved by the FDA on May 11, ease longstanding restrictions on blood donations by gay and bisexual men that had effectively prevented people from donating blood based on their sexual orientation.
The two men, Doug Anderson, 51, a longtime Red Cross employee, and Dan Bennett, 56, a senior director for the Medallia personnel management and software company, said they were delighted to finally become eligible to donate blood. “There’s so much of a need for blood,” Anderson told the Washington Blade. “So, it’s really nice to be included so we can also give back to this life-saving mission,” he said. “I was able to give blood previously and it’s been many, many years since I’ve been able to give,” Bennett said. “This is something that I feel very proud to be able to do and to represent our community.” The previous FDA policy that has just been replaced required men who have sex with men [MSM] to abstain from sex for three months before they would be eligible to donate blood.
The new policy, according to a statement released by the FDA in May, eliminates time-based deferrals for donating blood and screening questions specific to men who have sex with men and women who have sex with MSM.
