HHS Committee Votes to Retain Ban on Gay Blood Donation

After two days of hearings, by a vote of 9-6, the HHS Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability has voted against recommending lifting the FDA ban on blood donation by gay men.
Against all science. Outrageous.

The current policy bars any man who has had sex with a man since 1977 from giving blood.

Massachusetts lawmakers sign letter urging end to gay ban on blood donation: "Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, Representative Michael E. Capuano, Democrat of Somerville, and Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Newton -- along with 38 other lawmakers -- signed a letter this week urging the government to discard the policy. 'This is blood that could save lives,' Kerry said in testimony on the first of two days of hearings by the committee at the Department of Health and Human Services that advises the department on blood donation policy."