Officials from a number of states want the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to drop its requirement that gay, bisexual, queer and transgender men wait three months to donate blood.
The request is in a letter from the lieutenant governors of twenty states including Connecticut, California and Pennsylvania.
Connecticut Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz says there is no medical justification for the FDA rule which is a holdover from the AIDS crisis of the 1980s.
She says it’s unjustified given the increased demand for blood and plasma donations caused by COVID-19.
“To address this shortage we believe this is a simple way to increase the number of people who are eligible to give blood in our country.”
Bysiewicz says more than 380,000 gay men would be eligible to give blood if the ban were lifted.
Leaders of the LGBTQ community support the move.
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