To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate

Blood donations by gay and bisexual men

In the wake of continued blood product shortages, please readdress the archaic ban on blood donation by any man who has had sex with another man in the past 12 months. Blood products are routinely screened for diseases such as HIV and hepatitis. Please revise the current national guidelines.

Why is this important?

We, as a country, have just been confronted with a horrific hate crime in Orlando which taxed our national blood supply. As a retired trauma nurse practitioner it's very frustrating to not be able to donate blood because I'm gay despite being in a monogamous relationship for 30 years.