Blood donations save lives, and for the past several decades an entire group of people -- many gay men — have been unable to give. That's now changing.

"The biggest thing with this new regulation they're rolling out is it's going to eliminate the stigma around gay men and bisexual men in particular and allow them to donate and participate in saving lives,” President of the NWPA Pride Alliance Alex Sphon said.  

The old policy only allowed gay and bisexual men to donate blood three months after their last sexual encounter. The updated guidance has no restrictions on sexual orientation. Basically, they're answering the same series of questions as everybody else, to determine eligibility to donate.

Sphon said it's a policy change that should be celebrated.

“To see the FDA, take this step that is really just putting us on par with the rest of the world. It's relaying something that's sending a positive sign to our community," Sphon said. 

The Executive Director of the Community Blood Bank Dee Rosenthal is excited about the new changes too.

"With this new donor history card, that allows some community members who weren't able to donate before to come in and donate. We want, obviously, to make sure as many people can donate through blood donation, and so this offers accessibility and availability,” Rosenthal said. 

Erie's Community Blood Bank will implement the changes in Jan. of 2024. Rosenthal said this questionnaire is simply an additional security measure along with testing the blood.

“Testing is done on every unit of blood that comes through and in addition to the donor history. The questionnaire offers another layer of safety check. We always want to make sure the blood that we supply to our hospitals is safe as possible," Rosenthal said.