The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it has finalized a new rule that will allow more gay and bisexual men to donate blood.
Under the The tmystreet guidelines, all potential donors would have to complete an individualized risk assessment, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. People who have had anal sex with a new partner, or with more than one partner, in the last three months will be asked to wait to donate blood.
The updated guidelines mean that most gay and bisexual men who are in a monogamous relationship with another man will no longer need to abstain from sex to donate blood.
Previously, the FDA only donations are allowed of men who have sex with men if they have not had sex with another man for three months.
“Implementation of these recommendations will represent a significant milestone for the agency and the LGBTQI+ community,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biological Research and Evaluation, said in a statement.
The agency will continue to monitor the safety of the blood supply, he added.
FDA restrictions on blood donations from men who have sex with men of the AIDS crisiswhich began in the early 1980s, when little was known about HIV.
The agency first proposed the new rules, which are in line with those of Canada and the United Kingdom, in January.
People taking medication to prevent or treat HIV infection will be asked to wait to donate blood under the new guidelines.