The Hammer Museum, in partnership with the Williams Institute of the UCLA School of Law, will host and livestream a panel on Blood Equality to discuss the 1-year celibacy ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood. This panel will be held in advance of World AIDS day, just days before the FDA closes its public comment period for the current ban.
Until the end of 2015, the FDA had a lifetime ban for any gay or bisexual men wanting to donate blood. 9 months later, many donation centers have not updated their systems – a glitch that prevented many gay and bisexual men from donating blood in the aftermath of the Pulse massacre.