Your gay blood is no good.

Wow.
A 17-year old student at Santa Cruz was turned away when he went to donate blood at his high school because of his previous sexual history. Oh, and the fact that he’s gay.
Santa Cruz school officials are actually thinking about canceling blood drives altogether because of the incident, particularly if their students are going to be required to disclose information about their sexual orientation.
Despite the fact that the major blood supply organizations in the U.S., including the American Red Cross, petitioned the FDA to relax the rules on gay men, saying that, “the current lifetime deferral for men who have had sex with other men is medically and scientifically unwarranted,” gay men are still deferred from donated blood by the FDA. Their statement on the issue?

“Studies have shown that men with a history of male to male sex since 1977 may be infected with HIV and/or may have evidence of a lifestyle that potentially exposes them to HIV.”

But should we expect much more from the FDA? Sigh.
Note: This post has been slightly altered due to new information disclosed by a reader. See comments for more info!