Hey, this is Kim. Just a heads up, this episode does include some discussion of sex. You

might want to be aware of when and where you listen. Okay, here's the show.

Back in 2011, Eric Kutcher was a student at Columbia University in New York. And one day

he and his friends decided to go donate blood at a blood drive on campus.

We went to the gymnasium and I walked in, I filled out the questionnaire, and there was

a question that said, as a man, have you had sexual contact with another man even once

since 1977? I was very transparent in terms of wanting to meet

sure I honestly answered the question. So I put yes and expected that I would have a chance

to talk through what that meant with someone. And when I went in, I handed in the

form I was told that I was not eligible, no further questions asked. And I remember the

shame and embarrassment that I had walking out of that gym. That day, Eric came up against

a longtime rule from the Food and Drug Administration that indefinitely barred gay men from donating

blood. The rule dated back to the 1980s when the AIDS epidemic first emerged. Scientists

realized that HIV virus could be transmitted by blood and since gay men had higher HIV

infection rates, they were banned from donating. But now, after years of pressure from advocacy

groups, blood banks, and other experts, that rule might change.

The FDA announced a new proposal last week that would allow monogamous scan by sexual

men to give blood for the first time in decades without having to abstain from sex.

This fennet neuropill, he's a health and science reporter at the post and he says moving

away from deciding who can give blood based on sexual orientation is a big deal.

The US and really the rest of the world has long dealt with the blood shortages and you've

had a significant portion of the American population barred from giving blood because of

...