During the ’80s, the HIV crisis created a national panic about the safety of the nation’s blood supply, and gay men were stigmatized as the source of the disease. By 1992, the FDA placed a lifetime ban on blood donations from men who’d had even a single sexual encounter with another man since 1977.
Despite significant advances in HIV detection, that rule wasn’t lifted until 2015. But it was replaced by another prohibitive restriction requiring men to abstain from sexual contact with other men for a full year before they could donate blood.
VICE News Tonight correspondent Arielle Duhaime-Ross traveled to Washington, DC to meet one man who’s convinced that the best way to draw attention to the unfairness of that rule is to follow it to the letter. Watch the segment above.
VICE News Tonight‘s “Beating the Ban” is currently available on HBO. VICE News Tonight airs weeknights on HBO at 7:30 p.m.
