- Soon after the shooting of Pulse Nightclub in 2016,
a lot of gay and bisexual men realized something
that left them frustrated,
they were not allowed to donate blood.
- Our coverage of the deadly shooting in Orlando
and the outpouring of support from people
wanting to help the victims.
- A Southwest Florida man overcome with emotion
in the wake of Orlando's deadly rampage.
He's now trying to help the surviving victims
who are fighting for their lives,
but there's one problem, he says he's been denied
from donating blood more than once because he's gay.
- Based on the current FDA restriction,
men who have had sex with other men in the past 12 months
are deferred from donating blood.
But when was this put in place and why?
Initially, this restriction was introduced in 1983
and until recently, it was a lifetime ban for men
who slept with other men.
At this time, the US was in the midst of the AIDS crisis
and there was still a lot of ignorance about HIV
and it's transmission.
- Which shows that the lifestyle of some male homosexuals
has triggered an epidemic of a rare form of cancer.
- [Man] Researchers are now studying blood and
other samples from the victims,
trying to learn what is causing the disease.
So far, they have had no luck.
- One of the things they knew was that this was
a blood born virus and the virus was effecting
mostly the gay community.
At this time, with their limited research and knowledge,
it made sense to have a temporary ban on blood donations
from gay men.
But what does this ban mean now, 35 years later?
The FDA updated its ban in 2015,
changing it to a deferral for men who have had sex
with another man in the past 12 months.
So essentially, if you're gay and you want to donate blood,
you just can't have sex for a full year.
So, like, a lot of us can't donate.
But were there actual risks of having sexually
active gay men donating blood?
Well, HIV is no longer a death sentence,
and heterosexual people are also at risk of
contracting the virus.
Men who have had sex with other men remain
at the highest risk of infection.
In 2016, 40,000 people were diagnosed with HIV in the US.
Of those, gay and bisexual men accounted for 67%.
But science has come a long way since
the ban was introduced.
Donated blood in the US is not only tested to see
which patient can the blood go to,
but also to look for possible diseases or infections
that might be present in the blood.
So in theory, most donations from people who are
HIV positive will show up in the result and,
therefore, won't make it to a blood bank.
But the concern lies in what they call a window period.
The window period is a time between when the virus
is contracted and when it's detectable.
The risk here is that someone could contract the virus
and donate blood before it shows in the test.
The reality is that HIV screening tools have significantly
improved since 1983.
Now we have a shorter window period
and more sensitive tests after the window period has passed.
Using the testing methods of 1987,
tests after an eight week window show a chance of infection
in one out of every 153,123 units of blood.
With today's methods, a risk of infection is one
in eight to 12 million units of blood.
So why does this matter?
Well, as it turns out, we need blood.
In 2018, the Red Cross sounded the emergency alarm
for blood shortage, and these shortages are coming
throughout the country.
These constant blood shortages occur partially
because only 38% of the US population is
eligible to donate blood.
And only about 10% donate blood yearly.
According to the Red Cross,
a person in the US is in need of blood every two seconds
and one pint of blood could save up to three lives.
Lives like Nathan's in Arizona.
- Nathan was born on August 24, 2014, a healthy baby boy.
Three and a half months,
Nathan started to look as if he had jaundice.
His belly was really extended and
I started to question his appearance
and how he was behaving.
I took him into his primary care physician.
They drew some blood and I received a phone call
around 11:00 that night telling me that my son's
hemoglobin was a four and
his spleen was in his pelvic cavity,
and I needed to take him to
Phoenix Children's Hospital right away.
And we spent the next nine days
in Phoenix Children's Hospital.
Within that nine days, Nathan received three blood
transfusions back to back.
Nathan was having weekly blood transfusions and
they slowly spread out to about two weeks,
and then eventually three weeks.
Now Nathan just received his 61st blood transfusion
and he can go anywhere between three to four weeks
before having to receive another blood transfusion.
There was a time that we were asked to come back
the next day because they didn't have his type of blood
in the blood bank.
In worst case situations, like natural disasters,
things like that, that is a really scary feeling
because without blood transfusions, my son will pass away.
And at that time, it doesn't matter who is donating
the blood, it's the fact that we're getting blood
for my little boy and people just like him.
I signed a document stating that I understand that
he can contract HIV, but the benefit of my son receiving
blood completely outweighs that risk.
Because without a blood transfusion,
there is no other way for him to be alive, he will die,
so yeah, I'm gonna take that risk.
I'll take blood from anybody who's willing to give it
and that means more than anything in the world to me.
The life of my son truly is in other people's hands
and that is the worst feeling in the world
to feel as a parent.
(soft rhythmic music)
- Now while the US recently lifted the lifetime ban,
there are other countries that have screening processes
that might allow us to donate more blood.
In Spain and Italy, for instance,
each donor's potential risk is approached individually
to determine high risk blood donors.
For example, if a gay man is in a longterm monogamous
relationship, he can be considered low risk for HIV,
and therefore, a safer candidate.
On the other hand, a straight man may be considered
high risk if he's recently had unprotected sex
with multiple partners.
Blanket assumptions based on sexual orientation
are avoided with this individual approach
and screenings become based more on what is described
as risky sexual behavior,
and not necessarily who you're attracted to
or who you have sex with.
(exciting music)