FDA formally relaxes ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration formally ended a decades-long ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men Monday, Reuters reports. Under the new policy, which was a year in the making, men who have gone a year without having sexual contact with other men are now eligible to donate.

For many LGBT rights advocates and liberal legislators, that change doesn't go far enough to end discrimination, BuzzFeed News reports.

"The revised policy is still discriminatory," the National Gay Blood Drive wrote in a statement. "While many gay and bisexual men will be eligible to donate their blood and help save lives under this 12-month deferral, countless more will continue to be banned solely on the basis of their sexual orientation and without medical or scientific reasoning."

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