This gay man’s job is to recruit blood donors. New FDA rules mean he can finally donate himself

Model shown donating blood at a hospital.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The news of a rule change allowing gay and bisexual men in the US to donate blood has been well-received by the LGBTQ+ community, but for one man, the change is particularly significant. Tom King is a campus recruiter for the UCLA Blood & Platelet Center whose job is to encourage students and staff to sign up as blood and platelet donors. Naturally, he has always wanted to be a donor himself, but as an openly gay man in a relationship, he was barred from doing so.

Until now.

“The day of the announcement my phone was going nonstop,” King tells LGBTQ Nation. “Friends were texting and calling because they were so excited for me.”

The FDA banned all men who had sex with men (MSM) and women who had sex with MSM from donating blood in 1983 due to the AIDS epidemic. MSM were considered at higher risk of transmitting HIV to a recipient.

King says the blanket approach of those rules has been “frustrating.”

In 2015 the FDA modified the ban, allowing MSM to donate if they had…

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