GLAAD released an open letter penned by more than 500 medical professionals responding to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's ( FDA ) revised recommendations on gay and bisexual men, and other LGBTQ people, from donating blood by reducing the deferral period from 12 months to three months.
Dr. Deborah Cohan, MD, MPH; and Dr. Monica Hahn, MD, MPH, of the University of California San Francisco and HIVEonline.org, started the letter, which urges a total elimination of the deferral period.
The letter includes signatories from top-tier hospitals and universities including Harvard Medical School, Northwestern University, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Columbia University, Duke University, The University of California-San Francisco, and The University of California-Berkeley, Emory University, Boston University, The University of Minnesota, Vanderbilt University, Mount Sinai Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and New York Presbyterian Hospital.
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said, "The FDA's decision to lower the deferral period on men who have sex with men from 12 months to 3 months is a step towards being more in line with science, but remains imperfect. We will keep fighting until the deferral period is lifted and gay and bi men, and all LGBTQ people, are treated equal to others."
GLAAD launched a petition in March calling for an end to the current ban following U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams' urgent call for donations during the COVID-19 crisis. The petition has more than 23,000 signatures and elected officials including U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Carolyn Maloney as well as U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin, Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris have spoken out.
Also, Ocasio-Cortez and Carolyn Maloney previously penned a letter calling on the FDA to revise its ban on men who have sex with men from donating blood.
The full open letter is at www.glaad.org/blog/open-letter-fda-medical-professionals .