The United States Food and Drug Administration instituted a lifetime ban on blood donations from 'men who sleep with men' in 1983. This ban was instituted in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic when little information into how the disease was contracted was available. At the time gay men were the primary victims of the disease, and thus targeted.
Now, 30 years later, HIV testing is standard practice in blood donations, minimizing the risk for the disease to spread. According to the FDA, the risk of contracting HIV from a blood transfusion is currently one per every two million units of blood.
The FDA lifetime ban on blood donation for 'men who have sex with men' is discriminatory in nature, and I urge the Obama Administration to vocally support a repeal of this ban.