Some straight women are banned from giving blood for one ridiculous reason
Some straight women could be banned from donating blood in the US – because the FDA doesn’t recognise them as women.
Although men who have sex with men are banned from giving blood at present, no such blanket ban applies to women who have sex with men.
However, some straight women are arbitrarily caught up under the ban – because they are transgender, and the FDA sees them as men.
Buzzfeed reports that trans woman Jasmine Kaiser has filed a lawsuit against blood collector CSL Plasma – afte she was rejected under the blanket ban on MSM… despite not being a man.
The company turned her away citing FDA regulations – which don’t recognise that a person can change their sex.
An FDA spokesperson told the website: “Our policy is to designate by sex at birth. That is all there is to it.”
Kaiser’s lawyer Isaac Ruiz said: “We filed this case because we are fighting ignorance, and we want to encourage other transgender people in this situation to stand up for their rights.
“There is no scientific basis for blacklisting transgender people from donating plasma. It is pure discrimination.”
The Food and Drug Administration recently recommended that the ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood “should end”.
Currently, men who have had sex with men any time since 1977 are permanently banned from donating blood. The US plans to bring its rules in line with countries such as the UK, where men who have had sex with men in the past twelve months will still be banned.
