Under pressure from lawmakers, the Food and Drug Administration wants to hear from the public on its controversial prohibition on sexually active gay men donating blood.
The agency issued a request for public comments on Tuesday about controversial guidelines issued in December about blood donations. Last year, the agency reversed its decades-old ban on gay men donating blood, but only if they have been abstinent for a year.
After the Orlando, Fla., shooting at a gay nightclub that left 49 people dead, lawmakers called for the FDA to reverse the policy, which was put in place because health officials were concerned about the spread of HIV and AIDS in the 1980s.
Several House Democrats wrote to the agency in June after the shooting to press for an end to the policy.
Instead of allowing blood donations based on sexual orientation, the FDA should require everyone to fill out a questionnaire and then determine if they are at risk of spreading an infection, the letter said.
“We’re talking about a policy of the 20th century,” said Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif. “This is not a time to let the 20th century dictate how we do things in the 21st century.”
Democrats have called the current policy discriminatory, as heterosexual men with multiple partners don’t have to wait a year before giving blood.
The gay rights group Human Rights Campaign has pushed for the ban to be lifted, with activists saying that gay men who wanted to donate blood for the injured victims of the shooting were turned away by local blood banks.
The FDA wants comments by Nov. 23.
