The FDA’s Queer Problem

This year, World AIDS Day provided a moment to reflect on the history of the disease, while giving us a chance to look forward. Wordwide, rates of new infections are sharply declining, and the United Nations hopes to eradicate the disease by 2030. The world has come a long way since Ronald Reagan’s press secretary infamously joked about homosexuality and AIDS (what was then called the “gay plague”). Stigma, especially against the queer community, has lessened as scientific advances have given us greater insight into the fact that HIV can affect anyone.

However, that stigma still remains strong in one place: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

According to FDA rules, men who have had sex with another man, or MSM, since 1977 are “indefinitely deferred” from donating blood. Perhaps such a blanket policy seemed sensible in the 1980s, when fear and homophobia trumped science in the discourse on HIV/AIDS. Those fears make the policy no less wrong. In the present day it is not only impractical, but also furthers homophobia against gay men.

This is not the first time we have highlighted the outmoded ban, but with the FDA now at least considering a change, the issue bears revisiting. The science currently available ensures the safety of blood banks without making blanket regulations. After receiving blood donations, the FDA tests all donations for several diseases, including both types of HIV.

The regulations against MSM unnecessarily stigmatizes queer men in particular, while ignoring other, historically less stigmatized demographics who also are considered at-risk for blood-transferable diseases. People who have contracted an STI can still donate blood, provided they wait 12 months. People who have had sexual contact with an MSM can, after the same waiting period, also donate. Those who engage in promiscuous heterosexual sex (another risk factor for HIV/AIDS) do not face any regulations against blood donation. And yet, under the current FDA rules, a man who has only engaged in monogamous, protected sex with a long-time male partner is unable to donate.

Earlier this fall, the Health and Human Services Department voted to change the policy that has been in place since the 1980s. On Dec. 2, the FDA’s Blood Products Advisory Committee met to discuss the policy surrounding donations from MSM. However, recent reports show that members of the FDA’s committee are still skeptical about such a change, and that a revision of the policy was not even put to a vote.

Other countries, including Australia, Italy, Japan, and Sweden, have more progressive regulations that allow MSM to donate under various conditions. A 2010 study showed that a year-long deferral for MSM did not increase the risk of HIV through blood donation. And, with recent technology, HIV can be detected in only two weeks after sexual activity.

The science points to one conclusion: The FDA ought to revise its outdated regulations that unnecessarily stigmatize queer men.