After recently recovering from COVID-19, I decided to go do my part and donate my plasma, since I now have antibodies that could help others to heal. When I got through the process, I was told that my plasma couldn’t be used because I have had relations with other males.

Men who recover from COVID-19 should be able to donate plasma to help fight the pandemic, whether or not they’ve had sex with other men. Hospitals are overloaded and desperately need these plasma donations in order to treat severely ill patients. Our plasma is just as valuable as any other human being.

The FDA requires men who have sex with men to remain abstinent for one year in order to donate blood. During the pandemic, the FDA reduced that timeline to three months, but blood banks are still turning gay men away because they aren’t equipped to make these kinds of bureaucratic changes quickly enough. It’s long past time for the FDA to do away with the restriction altogether.

Everyone wants to end this pandemic as fast as possible. We can accomplish this much faster if we come together to increase the number of people who are eligible to donate their COVID-19 antibodies, and the first step should be to stop this outdated, discriminatory restriction.

Why are gay men not allowed to donate blood to help others during a pandemic? What makes our blood so different from anyone else who has recovered from Covid-19 and is willing to help?