Since the early 1980s, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has barred gay men from donating blood. The policy, implemented at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis, says that any man who has had sex with another man after 1977 is not allowed to donate blood.

While the policy was originally intended to keep the nation's blood supply safe, there's absolutely no reason to keep the ban in place today. Indeed, gay men are told they can't donate blood, while many other groups that are far more at-risk for STDs -- folks who have sex with commercial sex workers, for instance -- are able to give blood after a year's waiting period. 

Beyond that, as U.S. Sen. John Kerry writes, "not a single piece of scientific evidence supports the ban." All blood is rigorously tested after it is donated and current technology is sophisiticated enough to detect HIV within days or weeks of infection.

It's time that the FDA lift the ban on gay blood. Urge FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to put an end to the ban on gay blood. In the wake of regular shortages in the nation's blood supply, this ban can't be lifted fast enough.