repeal the FDA's longstanding prohibition on gay and bisexual men from donating blood.

The FDA regulates blood donation in the U.S. and explicitly bars any man who has had sex with another man at any time since 1977 from donating blood, even though all blood donations today are screened and tested for HIV. The FDA justifies this policy by citing that 1977 was the beginning of the United States AIDS epidemic and that gay and bisexual men are at a greater risk of HIV.
Other countries such as the UK, Spain, France, Italy and Russia have completely lifted the life-long ban; and the blood donation organizations have also recommended a reversal of this policy.
This petition calls upon the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to repeal their longstanding prohibition on gay and bisexual men from donating blood.