The American Red Cross has declared a national blood shortage and is urging anyone and everyone to donate if they can. However, a large group of people has been discriminated against when it comes to donating blood: homosexual men. 

Since 1983, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a ban on sexually active homosexual men from donating blood due to HIV concerns and prevention. It was a lifetime ban from 1983 to 2015, then amended with a year-long abstinence requirement and amended once more to three months of abstinence in 2020. 

Many queer advocates and even members of Congress have called for a complete end of the ban, stating that it is unnecessary and is solely supported by homophobia. This discrimination stems from the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) crisis that started in 1981 and began declining in 1997. AIDS originally affected only gay men, and many people saw the illness as the “will of God” from their homophobic projection onto their religion.

“Is AIDS a judgment of God?…. I could not say for sure, but I think so,” said evangelical minister Billy Graham in 1993.

Even President Ronald Reagan dismissed AIDS, deeming it a consequence of immoral behavior. Press secretary Larry Speakes even said in 1984 that the president had no knowledge of the epidemic, despite the 1-in-3 death rate. It was only two years and 90,000 deaths later that the Reagan administration took action.

While concerns about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) spreading are valid, all blood donated, regardless of whom it is from, is tested for transmittable diseases like HIV. The discrimination against queer men is detrimental to our society, as it stops so many from donating, especially as we are amid a global pandemic.

The ban and general stigma against MSM — the FDA’s acronym for men who have sex with men — have changed public opinion to believe that only MSMs can contract HIV when anyone is susceptible to the virus. This year, studies in the UK have shown that heterosexual people have caught HIV at a higher rate than gay and bisexual men. Since straight people don’t receive as much stigma as gay men do, they are less likely to use preventive measures. 

The solution to this problem is to simply lift the ban, but it’s the cause of it that keeps it in place. Homophobic values of those in charge ensure that such a harmful ban remains, and the passive actions of others ensure no change in our healthcare system. 

People are suffering under these bans, both those in need of blood and those in need of equality. The solution for the ordinary citizen is protesting, talking with state officials and informing others of the ban that could harm them when they need blood.