The American Red Cross is sending blood to Orlando in wake of the worst mass shooting on U.S. soil, with at least 50 dead and 50-plus wounded at a gay nightclub this morning.
Around metro Atlanta, those in the gay community who want to help the most likely are blocked from giving.
Red Cross officials say they adhere to Food and Drug Administration regulations when it comes to blood donation. Among those regulations is a stipulation that a man cannot donate blood if he has been sexually active with another man in the past 12 months.
“I think it’s bogus,” said Tyai Green, who runs a local nonprofit focusing on urban LGBT entertainment and education. “There are individuals who may be same-gender loving and qualified to give blood. It goes back to the old days of blacks drinking out of separate water fountains. We need to stop this kind of segregation and separatism.
“At the end of the day, that’s what it is.”
FDA regulations, updated most recently in December 2015, say no one should donate blood who has tested positive for the HIV virus, who has exchanged sex for money or drugs or who has engaged in injection drug use not prescribed.
According to the FDA, people must wait a year to donate blood if they have received a tattoo or piercing, if they are men who have had sex with another man or if they have had sex with a man who has had sex with a man during the past 12 months.
Jason Bunkley said he was denied the chance to donate blood several years ago during a company blood drive for disclosing he was gay and had sex with another man. He hopes situations like the Orlando club shooting will spark dialogue on better regulations for who can donate blood.
“It’s another tragedy on top of a tragedy,” he said of the regulations. “Essentially, you’re denying people the chance to save lives.”
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