HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — In its recent survey, Adameve.com asked over 1,000 adults if they thought that gay and/or bisexual men should be allowed to donate blood if they have had sex with another man in the past 12 months.
Under current U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines, gay and/or bisexual men are prohibited from donating blood if they have had sex with another man within the past 12 months. Although 49 percent of the respondents (45 percent of the females vs. 50 percent of the males) believed prohibiting sexually active gay and/or bisexual men from donating blood is a relevant and necessary public health restriction, 51 percent of the respondents (55 percent of the females vs. 50 percent of the males) felt that the rule was outdated and ignores current information about transmission of sexually transmitted infections.
Dr. Jenni Skyler, Adam & Eve’s resident sexologist, said, “While gay men are prohibited from donating blood at all in Austria, Denmark and Greece, the laws in the United Kingdom were recently changed to allow donation at three months following same-sex encounters rather than 12. I am hopeful that the United States will soon follow suit, as blood donation should be based on a human being’s health, not their sexual orientation.”
Adameve.com also released their latest infographic that shows a snapshot of current U.S. LGBTQ statistics. Information ranges from cities with the highest concentration of LGBTQ individuals to how Americans really feel about same-sex marriage and adoption, and more.