End the discriminatory FDA policy of lifetime blood donation ineligibility for gay men.

The FDA is responsible for determining eligibility requirements for blood donors, and by law organizations such as the American Red Cross must follow these decisions. Current FDA policy mandates a lifetime donation deferral for all men who have had sex with other men (MSM) since 1977, and also defers female partners of such men. The Red Cross has stated that this policy is "medically and scientifically unwarranted," especially since the introduction of highly reliable infection screening methods, and have asked that the deferral criteria be changed so that it's comparable to that of "other groups at increased risk for sexual transmission of transfusion-transmitted infections." In light of countrywide blood shortages, it's imperative that we end counterproductive discrimination against MSM.