WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Central Florida congresswoman is proposing a bill that would remove discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity when it comes to donating blood.
U.S. Rep. Val Demings (FL-10) and Rep. Mike Quigley (IL-5) introduced the Science in Blood Donation Act of 2020 on Friday.
“It’s time to move away from these archaic rules and ideologies,” Demings said in a statement. “When we know better, we should do better. By basing our medicine on science, we can maximize our donor pool while keeping our blood supply safe.”
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Demings’ office said the legislation would require the Food and Drug Administration to revise its guidance on reducing the risk of transmitting HIV by blood to be, “based on an assessment of current testing accuracy and individual risk-based analysis, rather than categorization.”
The legislation would also require the FDA to change its blood donor questionnaire about sexual behaviors to evaluate donors equally, without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity.
The current FDA policy states that a man who has had sex with another man must defer giving blood for three months after the most recent sexual contact.
Demings said that policy is based “on fear, sigma, and prejudice, not science.”
“Expanding the donor pool by hundreds of thousands of healthy Americans would save lives every day in emergency rooms and hospitals around the country,” she said.
Demings, the former Orlando police chief, said Orlando experienced the impact of the FDA policy after the Pulse massacre.
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“Blood is never at higher demand than in an emergency,” she said. “Orlando knows the pain of mass shootings, and discriminatory sexual orientation guidelines denied victims’ friends and families the opportunity to donate blood afterward.”
I just introduced legislation with @RepMikeQuigley to end discrimination against potential blood donors based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
— Rep. Val Demings (@RepValDemings) September 4, 2020
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