Breaking down the FDA, Red Cross gay blood donation "ban"

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Across the pond, the UK has just lifted longtime restrictions on gay and bisexual men donating blood. But the US still limits the ability of gay men to give.

Some in the LGBTQ+ community feel that a policy set by the FDA discriminates against them and prevents them from donating. Adam Joseph shed light on this story in the spring.

"I want to help everyone as much as I can but someone is telling me I can't because I am living the life I was born to live," he said.

Joseph is speaking out about an FDA policy that restricts gay or bisexual men from donating blood unless they are abstinent for three months, that includes men like Adam, who has been in a monogamous relationship for 12 years. He and his partner Karl have built a family together.

He says as a gay male, he and many others are lumped into a stereotype that is discriminatory that all gay men have HIV.

The restriction on blood donations stems from a lifetime ban enacted in 1983 when the AIDS epidemic was unfolding.

The policy by the FDA has been updated. In 2015, it changed, allowing gay or bisexual men to donate if they abstain from sex with a man for 12 months. Last year, due to the pandemic, that time period went down to three months.