The White House signaled Tuesday that there are no immediate plans to change a federal policy that limits blood donations from gay or bisexual men in the wake of Sunday’s Orlando terrorist attack at a gay club that killed 49 people.
“The president believes that when it comes to these types of questions, that we’re going to rely on scientific advice,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday. He noted that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other public health officials are responsible for the current policy.
Gay and bisexual men wanting to donate blood to the victims of the Orlando shooting have expressed outrage at the federal policy that bars them from donating blood if they have had sex with another man in the past 12 months.
Earnest said that policy was made “consistent with the advice that our scientists have offered about the best way to ensure the safety of the blood supply.”
Asked by a reporter if there is an “opportunity” to modify the policy in the wake of the Orlando massacre, the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, Earnest said only that any additional changes would be “rooted in the advice that we’re getting from the scientists at the FDA.”
