'Any policy that continues to categorically single out the LGBTQ+ community is discriminatory and wrong. The issue was sparked again this week when the Red Cross announced that skyrocketing COVID-19 cases have caused the 'worst blood shortage in more than a decade.' That led to a call from LGBTQ advocates and nearly two dozen members of Congress for the FDA to drop the abstinence requirement. In April 2020, the FDA decreased the abstinence requirement from 12 months to three months of abstinence, which was done at the urging of lawmakers and advocates as the nation faced a pandemic-caused blood shortage. It is a rule that is considered discriminatory by advocates and viewed by many in the medical community as an unnecessary roadblock to blood donation, NBC News reported. Right now, based on the slight chance of infection with HIV, men who have sex with men must abstain from sex with other men for 90 days before being eligible to donate blood. Food and Drug Administration, critics urge as the country struggles with a blood shortage. 14, 2022 (HealthDay News) - A three-month sexual abstinence rule for blood donations from sexually active gay and bisexual men should be dropped by the U.S.
