Last week marked the first time governmental conversations have been had about softening the ban on blood donations from gay men, following a recommendation made by a federal advisory committee.

The new recommendations, made by the U.S. Health and Human Services' Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability, suggest that gay men be required to abstain for a year before contributing blood. Present regulations require that men who have sex with other men be totally banned from donating blood, essentially for life.

The U.S. Health and Human Services' Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability's recommendations don't have a direct bearing on pre-existing policy, but the committee is a trusted source for federal guidelines. The FDA will consider findings in December after hearing from a number of other experts on whether they should or should not make the change.

The national advocacy group Gay Blood Drive is dedicated to the shift in policy, calling it a "HUGE step in the right direction!" According to the Human Rights Campaign, the proposed changes wouldn't go far enough. Instead, the ban should be abolished.

"This recommendation -- although nominally better than the existing policy -- falls far short because it continues to stigmatize gay and bisexual men, preventing them from donating life-saving blood based solely on their sexual orientation," HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy said, according to the Huffington Post.

The ACLU echoed their statements: "It is promising to see that the U.S. appears poised to move away from the current lifetime ban that prevents gay and bisexual men from donating blood. However, the proposed one-year deferral will prevent two men who maintain a committed, monogamous relationship from ever donating blood. This proposed policy does not distinguish between high risk and safer sex practices."

The banning of blood donations by gay men came into effect during the 1980s, at the peak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The policy affected men who'd had sex with other men since 1977. And ever since, gay rights advocates and medical groups have spoken out against the ban. The American Association of Blood Banks and America's Blood Centers and the American Red Cross jointly called the ban "medically and scientifically unwarranted." But, the American Red Cross supports a one-year deferral.

Canada, Australia and U.K. has already amended policies that turn away men who have sex with other men, permitting blood donations from those who've been abstinent for one year or five years.

The likely risk of HIV transmission from a blood transfusion is about 1 per 2 million units of blood transfused, according to the FDA. If the ban was eliminated, more than 360,500 men would likely donate 615,300 additional pints of blood a year. This could be used to assist 1.8 million people.

Monogamous same-sex couples who've been together for years aren't able to contribute, while heterosexual individuals who practice high-risk sexual behavior are able to contribute blood. Also, heterosexual individuals who've had sexual contact with someone with HIV or viral hepatitis can give blood after waiting just a year. Every unit of donated blood is tested for the virus, but there's an 11-day window in which tests can't identify HIV in individuals who just contracted the virus.

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