The Red Cross says blood donation eligibility shouldn’t be determined by sexual orientation, and acknowledges “the hurt this policy has caused to many in the LGBTQ+ community.” Doing away with the deferral policy also has the support of the American Medical Association. The deferral period was shortened to 90 days in April 2020, soon after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when there was a substantial drop in the nationwide blood supply. In December 2015, the FDA lifted the ban, replacing it with a policy allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood, but only if they hadn’t been sexually active for 12 months. Up until a few years ago, gay and bisexual men were subject to a lifetime ban on blood donation that was put in place in 1983, at the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Elizabeth Tilson, the letter was signed by health officials from California, Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon and Washington, D.C. On Thursday, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf asking the agency to remove a blood donor deferral policy that prevents men who have had sex with another man in the last 90 days from donating blood. North Carolina’s top health official, joined by public health leaders from eight other states and the District of Columbia, is asking the Food and Drug Administration to lift a three-month waiting period for gay men who are sexually active to donate blood.