I've just been told that my donation is
not going to be accepted today and for
no other reason than I'm gay
Lucas eStock who lives with his husband
in New York City says he wanted to help
others after surviving Kovan 19 I've
never been that sick in my life and I
just remember basically that the fever
went nearly non-stop for 12 or 13 days
and as my symptoms were kind of like at
the very tail end I just wanted to be
able to help in any way
one thing recovered kovat 19 patients
can do is donate convalescent plasma
it's a new treatment that takes the
antibodies from a recovered patient and
gives them to someone who is currently
ill with hopes that it will boost their
ability to fight the virus after weeks
of being symptom free Lucas was deemed a
perfect candidate to donate but he was
turned away by the New York Blood Center
I went there first to Mount Sinai to be
Reese lopped and to have samples of my
blood taken and that day I wasn't even
asked standard donor screening questions
I was in and out and about 90 minutes
and I noticed when I walked up to the
check-in station with a nurse that they
had a little printed out sign they had
put next to the station that made it
clear that Mount Sinai acknowledged and
respected all forms of gender identity
and expression and there was a pride
flag on it and so the kind of inner
turmoil that I had over whether or not I
was going to have to lie about this
became a lot easier when I realized that
relaxed standard meant I would not gay
and bisexual men have been restricted
from donating blood since 1983 as an
attempt to curb the spread of HIV the
FDA announced they would relax that
regulation amid the corona virus a move
that many advocates say has been long
overdue the next day they called and
they gave me my test results and I had
tested negative for over 92 days later I
got the results for my blood tests and
they told me that I had high levels of
antibodies in my blood and so they were
recommending me as a prime candidate for
donation and they asked me what I
assumed are very standard donor
screening questions about where you
travel to kind of medications you might
be on some basic family history things
and then I was waiting for this question
and the last question
was whether or not I had sexual contact
in the last three months with another
man and so I answered no and they told
me with that that I had passed the
screening and the next day I did get a
call from the Blood Center and they put
me through the same screening questions
and I was given an appointment I was
labeled a prime candidate and I was
excited I was nervous
I've been donated since I was 18 and so
I went in it was the next day or the day
after that I went in for my appointment
they were going down and collecting
photo IDs and just kind of asking some
basic questions you know have you ever
donated blood before and I said you know
not since high school not since I was 18
I haven't really been able to and I'm
excited I'm a little nervous and that
moment the response question was why
haven't you been able to thinking I've
passed the screenings right you know I
let my guard down a little bit and I
just volunteered I'm a gay man at that
moment the tone of the conversation
shifted entirely I could see the
expression of the person's eyes even
though they had a face mask on change
and immediately the response was you
won't be donating today that was
surprising in hindsight and I hate
saying this I feel like I shouldn't have
been surprised and even in that moment
it's not like I was genuinely wondering
what might have possibly happened what
went wrong in this conversation but I
did ask for clarification said listen if
this is because I'm a gay man I know the
FDA recently relaxed his restrictions on
gay and bi men donating and at that
point I was cut off and the response was
I don't know what you think you know but
you will not be donating here today I
kind of just felt a rush of emotions I
felt upset I felt embarrassed I felt you
know angry I felt myself I felt blood
rushing in my face I was embarrassed no
additional screening questions asked the
only piece of information I volunteered
and hindsight I regret volunteering it
because they had no right to know
mmm was that I was gay and then they
told me that it wasn't like flipping a
light switch that you can't just
suddenly accept these donations the only
real response I was given was that
computers need to be updated staff needs
to be retrained that doesn't seem like
an acceptable response to me but that's
what the response was I felt deflated
made it through this last month of hell
more or less and it sucked coming back
but I'm so grateful to be back and all I
want to do is help but that wasn't an
option for me
I was I ultimately left without being
able to donate and it is what it is I'm
frustrated I'm healthy I'm a qualified
and even prime donor right now I just
want to be treated like anyone else
who's heterosexual who might walk in off
the street looking to to help and to
donate and to contribute right now at a
time when it's pretty easy to feel
helpless a spokesperson with the New
York Blood Center told Inside Edition
calm we have been pushing the FDA to
make these scientifically based changes
for decades and we will continue to
advocate for further changes to this
policy as scientific data permits and
it's frustrating living in New York City
being an openly gay man and feeling safe
right and not feeling like that guard
that you have to put up in so many parts
of your life and in so many parts of
this world you know you want to be able
to put that guard down and that's what I
did and I hate to say that I regret it
but I do
for Inside Edition comm I'm Johanna Lee