Despite the strong calls from the gay community, blood organizations, and medical experts, advisors from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still remains unconvinced at lifting the ban on gay blood donation, even recommending the agency panel to be cautious in reviewing the said proposal.
More than 30 years ago, the United States was one of the few countries to impose a ban on blood donation from gays and bisexual men if they had been engaged with sex even once. Around this time, news about HIV and AIDS, which are usually transmitted through bodily fluids including during sex, was raging.
However, other countries have already changed their ruling, and those in the United States want the government to do the same. Canada, for example, has changed their regulation from a lifetime to only five-year ban. The United Kingdom has even a lower ban period of about a year. South Africa imposes a six-month ban.
Moreover, Glen Cohen, director of Petri-Flom Center of Harvard Law School, who also advocated lifting the ban, mentions that the old law is outdated in terms of development in modern medicine-there are already many tools that can confirm HIV or AIDS in only a few weeks--and may even have some legal implications especially against same-sex marriage acts.
Many have also criticized the ban as it seems to go against with the other policies regulating blood donation of other donors considered to be high risk. Men and women who have sex with a commercial sex worker or someone in the opposite sex with HIV is banned to donate for only one year.
Although the FDA as an agency is independent from the advisors, it normally listens to it. Also, the agency has not mentioned when it's going to complete its review, but neither is it following any timeline, although they express that they are open to lifting it.