Massachusetts' public health commissioner was able to donate blood for the first time Tuesday, celebrating new rules that open blood donation to gay and bisexual men.
DPH Commissioner Robbie Goldstein was joined by his friend Rochelle Walensky, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at the Red Cross Donation Center in Dedham. The pair spent years fighting to change the Food and Drug Administration's policy that had been in effect since the AIDS crisis.
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"This really is a proud moment," Goldstein said. "I want to give back, and now I finally can."
Earlier this year, the FDA updated its policy, thanks to advances in testing and new ways of screening. This month, the American Red Cross started implementing it.
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"We looked at the science and really put it out there in the public and said, 'We need to do something about this,'" Walensky said.
They hope the new rules will help ease the blood shortages often seen across the country.
"It's opening the doors to people who have been locked out of giving blood," Jeff Hall of the Red Cross said.
Dr. Chana Sacks, who wrote about the issue along with Goldstein and Walensky, said it took this long because it was a battle of science versus stigma.
"For so long, this issue was framed between having an inclusive, non-discriminatory donation policy or a safe blood supply. What the adoption of this policy shows is that is a false choice — we can have both," Sacks said.
Goldstein said the new rules open the doors to a potential 5 million new donors. He hopes to start seeing blood drives at LGBTQ+ events around Massachusetts.
