LGBTQ leaders push those newly eligible to donate blood

According to the American Red Cross, only about 3% of eligible people donate blood yearly. Met with the fact that, on average, every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood or platelets, supply is not meeting demand.A big segment of the U.S. population only recently became eligible to donate, but the Red Cross said numbers aren’t reflecting the policy change.The FDA previously had a lifetime ban against gay and bisexual men, stemming from the HIV/AIDs crisis in the 1980s. It updated the policy many years later but still denied men who had sex with men and their sexual partners to donate blood. Recently, that policy changed again, along with the questions donors are asked.Now, potential donors’ risk assessment questions are gender-neutral and behavior-based, asking about new sexual partners. Those still on HIV preventative medication, like PrEP, are still excluded from donating, but the policy change still means thousands more people are eligible to donate.North Carolina’s Health and Humans Services Secretary, Kody Kinsley, was one of the first in line to roll up his sleeve the day the policy changed.”As a member of the LGBTQ community, I have found no greater joy than being able to give back to the state that I love and the community in many ways,” Kinsley said. “There is no replacement for blood. It is always in short supply. This is something I think people can really take pride in doing.”Kinsley said he’d donated before, in high school and college, and even organized blood drives with the Red Cross. When he came out as gay and realized that wouldn’t be possible anymore, he said he felt frustrated.”Just excluding an entire group and believing that group is the only one at risk for HIV is bad for everyone for a lot of reasons,” Kinsley said. “It’s demoralizing seeing that a policy that was 40 years old, that was rooted in stigma, hadn’t kept peace with the times. We’ve got the testing capabilities now, and the knowledge about the risk factors that drive HIV. That allows us, with the right behavior screening questions and with the latest in testing, to keep the blood supply incredibly safe.”More than a decade and a half later, Kinsley said it felt great to be able to donate again and encourages other members of the LGBTQ community to do their part to help out the greater good.They’re asking, ‘Why now?’Vice President of Pride Winston Salem, Kandi Villano, is spreading a similar message as Kinsley to members of the organization. Villano has a greater context of the donation policy changes, having already come out when the lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men from donating blood was first put in place.”We’re good for everything else, we can fight the war, but we can’t donate blood. It just didn’t make any sense,” Villano said. “There was a lot of sarcasm around it and a lot of hate, a lot of demeaning feeling about it. That they’re second-class citizens.”Villano said the feelings of hurt and discrimination persist for many Pride Winston-Salem members. The younger members ones are also expressing confusion and frustration with the timing of this policy change, saying it seems to have come out of “desperation” rather than testing and technology advancement.Villano said she understands their frustrations but hopes they’ll also understand the need for blood outweighs holding a grudge.”It benefits all of us to pay it forward,” Villano said. “I’m hoping the local health departments and people can get the word out. And if people have questions, they just need to ask us.”PrEP exclusionsBoth Villano and Kinsley said they’ve heard frustrations about the latest FDA policy on blood donors still excluding those on pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. The medicine is highly effective for preventing HIV when taken as prescribed. PrEP is said to reduce the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99%. PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from injection drug use by at least 74%.But the FDA said, for now, the drugs interfere with viral replication and, thus, the detectability of diagnostic and screening tests for HIV. Users are asked to wait three months from the last oral dose and two years from the last injection to donate blood.Kinsley said that while taking PrEP impacts the ability to donate blood, he’s encouraging gay and bisexual men to consider taking the medicine in order to irradicate HIV/AIDs in the U.S.”HIV is a disease, a virus much like other viruses,” Kinsley said. “We have amazing tools now that can combat HIV and reduce individuals’ risks of exposure to HIV. I’d encourage folks to look into PrEP and talk to their healthcare provider about strategies they can put in place for reduce exposure. We have the tools to really reduce HIV and the epidemic as we know it.”The American Red Cross is encouraging all who are eligible to donate at the upcoming WXII Community Blood Drive. Come out to the Home & Garden Building at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds on Wednesday, November 15, between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sign up for an appointment slot at redcrossblood.org.