Any man who has had sex with other men since 1977 is not allowed to donate blood under current FDA rules. The potential donor could have had such sex 10, 20 or even 30 years ago, be healthy, and have been tested for HIV and other STD's since their last unprotected man to man sex, but their having had unprotected sex with another man since 1977 eliminates them from consideration as a blood donor. There is a shortage of blood in the blood banks and to deny men who have had unprotected sex with other men during the past thirty-three years the opportunity to donate blood, despite taking precautions is both discriminatory and significantly significantly lowers the amount of available blood.

I feel that with more advanced testing methods used in all blood drives that this ban should be lifted to both not discriminate against Gay men and more importantly because it would increase our blood supply and overall community health.