As current US law states, men who have sex with other men (MSM) cannot donate blood if they had gay male sex within the past 12 months.
While many have protested this rule before, a creative company is doing it in a new and interesting way.
Mother is a creative company with offices in New York and London. In time for Pride month and World Blood Donor Day, they’ve released new T-shirts which are printed with the blood of its gay employees.
The Blood is Blood t-shirts are meant to highlight the outdated law banning MSM if they’ve had a sexual encounter in the past 12 months.
The front of the shirt states, “this shirt is printed with the blood of gay men,” while the back has a longer message criticizing the FDA for not updating the law.
The shirt is being sold by gender-neutral retailer The Phluid Project and proceeds will go towards the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, which provide services to LGBTQ people in New York.
At the official Blood is Blood website a statement about the shirt and message says:
“Due to the stigma of another era, members of the community can’t be proud of their own blood. The Food and Drug Administration claims that the blood of men who have had sex with men in the last 12 months is ‘too risky’ to donate.”
“Instead of making the call based on real risk-factors, the regulation discriminations based on sexual orientation.”
“If the FDA changed its risk-assessment, it is estimated that an additional 360,600 men would likely donate 615,300 additional pints of blood each year, possibly saving the lives of more than 1.8 million people.”
If you want to buy a shirt for yourself and support both the message and the community center, you can click the link here.
