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Should LGBT community be allowed to donate blood?

I saw an article where several members of the LGBT community were outraged because they couldn't donate blood in the aftermath of the Orlando shooting. As someone who donates blood regularly I know they ask questions like "as a male, have you had sexual contact with another male in the last 12 months?" If you answer "yes" they do not accept your blood because it could be contaminated without you showing any symptoms yet and they don't want to risk transfusing contaminated blood.

They also will not accept donations of you have had a piercing or tattoo in the last 12 months, or been to certain areas of the world in the last 5 years. Or if you were born/spent time in certain areas of Europe in the 1980s. All of these things put you at risk of having contaminated blood.

So the question is: Should members of the LGBT community be allowed to donate anyway?

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