Since taking office last year, Bronx Congressmember Ritchie Torres has often wielded the power and visibility of the national stage to mount pressure on the federal government to nix the discriminatory policy barring men who have sex with men from donating blood. He has written letters to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging the agency to eliminate the policy, held press conferences with Congressional colleagues and LGBTQ advocates, and joined other members of Congress in introducing a resolution calling for the United States to implement blood donation policies based on science rather than discrimination.
Torres brought that fight directly to the White House on April 1 when he and several other co-chairs of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus met with President Joe Biden to discuss queer issues, including the blood ban, LGBTQ affordable housing, and the Equality Act.
