By John Mack Freeman
A report by the Williams Institute of the University of California has found that lifting the blanket ban on gay men giving blood could save over a million lives a year. The ban was introduced during the worst years of the AIDS crisis to stop any potential contamination of the blood supply. However, this holdover from a past time continue to discriminate against gay and bisexual men around the country. Via PinkNews:
According to the report, changing the liftetime ban for men who have sex with men (MSM) to a 12-month deferral, as in the UK, could lead an additional 185,800 men to donate 317,000 pints of blood each year.
If the ban were completely lifted, however, an additional 360,600 men would likely donate 615,300 additional pints of blood per year.
