Gay blood donor ban blocked us from helping our sick son – USA TODAY
CONTRIBUTORS
The FDA has started to listen to the science, which supports two changes to current rules that would allow more people to donate blood and make our blood supply safer.
Dr. Mark Schuster
Opinion contributor
When our son was fighting for his life, my husband and I were ready to give him anything he needed to get healthy.
But what he needed was a blood transfusion, and we couldn’t be the ones to give it to him. It wasn’t because we didn’t have the right blood type, but because of the type of people we are: gay men. Men who have sex with men (MSM) have been excluded from donating blood in the United States since 1983.