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Video: KTRK 13 News
Craig Hlavaty, Houston Chronicle
The intent of the National Gay Blood Drive is to show the FDA how much blood the gay male community could contribute to the blood supply if the ban were lifted.
The event calls for eligible gay and bisexual men to show up to get tested at a specified donation center and attempt to donate blood. As each donor is rejected, their test result will be collected, compiled, and delivered to the FDA.
The FDA’s policy is that men who have had sex with other men at any time since 1977, when the AIDS epidemic in the United States began, are currently deferred as blood donors. The FDA stated that this is because these men as a group are at increased risk for HIV, hepatitis B and certain other infections that can be transmitted through a blood transfusion.
Locals are directing their Houston-area supporters to the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, but Meagan Raeke, spokesperson from the blood bank, says they are in fact not directly affiliated with or joining the nationwide event.
“The organizers did contact us ahead of time and we have worked with them to attempt to limit the event’s impact on our daily operations,” she says.
Read more of this story at Chron.com
- Houston to Be Part of National Protest to Lift Ban on Blood Donations from Gay Men (KUHF Public Radio)
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NATION & WORLD:
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