A 21-year-old gay man is abstaining from sex for an entire year so he can finally donate blood.
Jay Franzone, a senior at Lasell College in Newton, Massachusetts, is forgoing all sexual activity until January 2017 in order to raise awareness for the ‘crazy’ and ‘archaic’ FDA policy that prohibits sexually-active gay and bisexual men from donating blood.
‘For me, I have friends who are always like, “Oh I want to go to the Himalayas,” or, “I want to go climb Mt. Everest.” And I want to give blood,’ he explained during a Facebook Live interview with the Huffington Post.
Scroll down for video
Taking a stand: Jay Franzone, 21, from Boston, is abstaining from sex for entire year so he can donate blood
Advocate: The senior at Lasell College in Massachusetts, pictured with Vice President Joe Biden in April, is raising awareness for the ‘crazy’ policy that stops sexually-active gay and bisexual men from donating blood
Under Federal Drug Administration policy, which was revised in December, gay and bisexual men must abstain from sexual contact with other men for 12 months before they can donate blood.
‘The FDA’s definition of sexual contact is oral, anal or vaginal sex, so it’s so overly-inclusive based on what we know HIV to be transmitted through,’ he said. ‘And so most high school gay people, they can never donate blood and they can’t go to Six Flags and get the free ticket.
‘And so it’s that stigma there but it’s also then you can’t give blood. You can’t save lives and it kind of hurts.’
Before the policy was amended, there was a lifetime ban on men who have had sex with other men from donating blood, a guideline that was implemented at the start of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.
‘Once you’re infected, you can get a result in 10 days and that’s fully accurate with nucleic acid testing so we’re testing for the DNA of the virus,’ Jay argued of the ban.
‘Before in the ‘80s, it took months, 56 days, for an HIV test to come back. So looking at the science and also realizing this is about risk. This isn’t about sexual orientation.’
-
A tiny talent! Video of gold medal-winning gymnast Laurie…
‘Why is it acceptable for a giant picture of BOOBS to be on…
-
‘It is really hurtful’: Emotional Gold medalist Gabby…
Difficulties: Although Jay was single when he first vowed to stay abstinent, he found himself in a new relationship in March, which made it difficult to refrain from sex at times
The college student, who is slated to graduate with a degree in political communications this fall, was single when he decided to abstain from sex. However, his decision to refrain from sexual activity as a college student quickly became more difficult.
The director of communications the the National Gay Blood Drive started dating someone in March, and the conversation about his abstinence came up after they attended at TED Talk about health care together.
Jay explained that he was ‘fully supportive and really encouraging’ of his plan, telling him that he ‘should keep doing this’.
Although he had his then-boyfriend’s support, he admitted it was a struggle for him to stay the course after his beau treated him to a romantic dinner overlooking the Boston skyline on his 21st birthday.
‘Normally on a birthday, turning 21, you are going to have sex no matter what your gender or sexual orientation,’ he said.
Growing apart: Jay said his then-boyfriend was extremely supportive, but they recently broke up after he spent much of the summer in California
Jay revealed that he also thought about breaking his vow when his relationship had hit a rough patch after he spent most of his summer in California.
‘Knowing that my relationship is kind of in the toilet, you know, I was asking myself, “I have already been public with my abstinence. Do I go and have sex with him,” he admitted. ‘But what does that mean our relationship is based on? And so do I try to rewrite it by having sex? And when you think about it, that’s not something you want.’
Jay publicly announced his vow to stay abstinent and donate blood after a gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 others during a massacre at an LGBT night club in Orlando, Florida, in June.
‘It’s like a terrible irony that our community’s hit and then we can’t give blood to help them,’ Jay said of the FDA guideline.
Although he and his boyfriend eventually broke up, Jay doesn’t regret abstaining from sex because it allowed them to really get to know each other, and he hopes to have a similar experiences when dating in the future.
‘I’m kind of putting it on my forehead and being very upfront with this because this isn’t something that I want to hide,’ Jay said. ‘I’m proud of my decision. I stand by it and I really look forward to giving blood.’