Outdated and downright discriminatory

I want to take a moment to update you on a problem that has my attention, one we must address as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Our health care system is short on life-saving blood donations in part, due to outdated – and downright discriminatory – rules about who can give blood.

The backstory is pretty much exactly what you'd expect. As the AIDS epidemic gripped America a generation ago, rules were put in place restricting blood donations from the LGBTQ+ community.

Today, those rules are not only outdated — they're downright discriminatory, and are having a dangerous impact on our nation's health care system. They exclude potential blood donors for no good reason whatsoever when there is an urgent need for these donations.

Because here's the bottom line: if someone passes a required screening, why shouldn't they be able to give blood to save lives?

Exactly. They should be able to. And that's what I want to fix.

I'm working on this at the federal level, pushing the Biden administration and FDA to scrap this outdated rule. I'll continue fighting tooth and nail to do away with this discriminatory rule against LGBTQ+ Americans once and for all.

Stay tuned. The more awareness we can bring to this issue, the better. I'll be exploring every possible path forward to fix this problem.

Ron