The Vermont House has voted to ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to lift its lifetime ban on blood donations by gay and bisexual men.
The ban was put in place in 1986 amid fear of HIV and AIDS. Supporters of lifting the ban say testing protocols have changed since then, and that it’s no longer scientifically and medically warranted.
The resolution calls for a one-year period when blood should not be given after sexual contact with a man, rather than a lifetime ban.
A federal advisory group voted in June of 2010 to keep the ban in place. But supporters of the House resolution, which passed 129-to-2, say the British government and some international health organizations have changed their standards on the question.