Glossary
Blood Ban
The blood ban refers to decades of U.S. policy that barred or restricted gay and bisexual men from donating blood, replaced in 2023 by a screening process that asks all donors the same risk questions regardless of sexual orientation.
The blood ban refers to U.S. Food and Drug Administration policies that kept gay and bisexual men from donating blood. Introduced in 1983 during the AIDS crisis as a lifetime ban on donations from men who have sex with men, it was widely criticized as stigmatizing and out of step with modern HIV testing. The FDA narrowed it to a one-year deferral in 2015 and a three-month deferral in 2020. In May 2023 the agency finalized an individual donor assessment: the donor questionnaire is now gender-neutral, and every prospective donor answers the same questions about recent sexual behavior rather than being deferred based on sexual orientation. Advocates welcomed the change while noting some restrictions still remain.