After the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Steve Jones (a pseudonym), like many Americans, yearned to do whatever he could to help. For those without specialized search-and-rescue skills, it seemed there were only two answers: give money or give blood. Jones wanted to do both. The 37-year-old sales manager sent off checks to the American Red Cross and United Way and took time off from work so he could donate blood at the LifeSource center on Fullerton. After having his pulse checked and a finger pricked–a test for anemia–Jones followed a LifeSource technician to a cubicle and answered a series of personal questions. At one point, the technician asked Jones if he’d had sex with any men since 1977–even once. When he was in college, nearly 20 years ago, Jones briefly experimented with gay sex. He answered the question truthfully. The technician then politely informed him that his blood would not be needed.
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The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the blood industry, began excluding gay and bisexual men from the donor pool in 1985, after thousands of people contracted HIV through blood transfusions. Back then, the ban seemed to make sense: AIDS was still widely considered a gay disease, little was known about its epidemiology, blood screening for HIV was brand-new and of undetermined effectiveness, and the virus could escape detection for almost two months.
But in 16 years much has changed, and representatives of some blood centers and gay-advocacy groups say that the policy barring men who’ve slept with men is outdated and discriminatory and that it could be changed without compromising the safety of the blood supply.
In a worst-case scenario, he said, with a five-year deferral of men who’ve had sex with men, an additional 1.7 units of HIV-infected blood could find their way into the nation’s supply each year. With a one-year deferral, he said, that number could rise to 3.1.
In a seven-to-six vote the advisory committee decided against relaxing the lifetime ban on gay and bisexual male donors.
The blood industry, however, might have a tough time luring back healthy donors who feel alienated. Steve Jones saw the LifeSource technician jot down the reason for his deferral and knows that the information is now stored in the blood center’s computer database. Should Jones ever attempt to give blood at a LifeSource center again, he will automatically be turned away–unless the FDA changes its policy.
