Ironically, the pandemic guidelines made Storrow eligible to donate platelets again for the first time in years, through a combination of the loosening of restrictions and the pandemic limiting his interactions with others. In order to combat a shortage in the blood supply caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA relaxed restrictions in 2020 to include men who have not had sex with men for three months.
The FDA lifetime ban ended in 2015 when it moved to a 12-month deferral period for men who have had sex with men within that time frame. Over a decade later, he is still advocating for any form of the blood ban to end, as the executive director of North Carolina AIDS Action Network. “I was like a 20-year-old student and joke that my parents found out I have sex from MSNBC,” Storrow, now in his 30s, said, “which is not how most people expect their parents to find out.” Department of Health and Human Services Blood Safety and Availability Advisory Committee meeting in June 2010. He was the only witness without an academic title next to his name to testify in favor of ending the lifetime ban before a U.S. could learn from them.Īs time went on, blood donations were screened more effectively, and many gay men began to practice safer sex, nonetheless the rule remained in place for decades.įrustrated about the FDA rules, Storrow went to Washington to testify against them as an openly gay college student. Lessons from Abroad: How Europeans have tackled opioid addiction and what the U.S.Storm stories – NC Health News works with teens from SE North Carolina to tell their hurricane experiences.Unequal Treatment: Mental health parity in North Carolina.When kids’ cries for help become crimes.COVID-19 updates: What’s happening in North Carolina?.Many gay men still can't donate amid NC blood shortage - NC Health News Close