red cross’s homophobia being trans inclusive is honest to god blowing me away
Hey, this gets thrown around a lot, and I want to clarify something about it, because the framing of this is entirely wrong. THE RED CROSS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BAN ON GAY MEN DONATING BLOOD. The three-month deferral comes from an FDA Guidance for Industry that the Red Cross cannot go against without losing the ability to distribute blood products in the US. The ban is 100% coming from FDA.
The reason that the Red Cross’s policy is trans-inclusive is because FDA has never clarified their stance; the Red Cross and the AABB (the main industry body) take the correct position that of course trans men are men, therefore the ban applies to them. So to be clear, the homophobia comes from FDA, and the trans-inclusivity comes from the Red Cross.
In fact, the Red Cross was a huge reason the permanent ban was changed to 12 months, and then that was changed to 3 months. I was involved in a bunch of the meetings with FDA when they were discussing updating their policy, and at every turn the Red Cross pushed for the ban to be removed. In fact, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, the Red Cross is collaborating with two other blood banks on a study intended to provide evidence that the ban is scientifically nonsensical. Their study has a very real chance of finally convincing FDA to completely remove restrictions on queer men donating blood.
So please stop slandering the Red Cross! They’re on our side in this! Get mad at FDA!
