DELAWARE - For the first time in decades, Oct. 2 marks the first day that people of all sexual orientations are able to donate blood.
Previously, the FDA announced that there would no longer be limitations to who could donate because of sexual orientation. The Blood Bank of Delmarva has been preparing with new questionnaires and training staff to accept the new donors. Donors that can help end a current blood shortage with just a few extra questions.
"You need to be at least 16, you have to weigh at least 110 pounds, you have to be in good general health and then we'll answer all of the other questions together," said Emily Cunningham, Vice President of Blood Bank of Delmarva. "We are so happy to have this new pipeline of donors coming through."
CAMP Rehoboth said this step towards equality is a long time in the making but one that ends a long standing stigma against the LGBTQ community.
"This is a victory that we celebrate when any form of discrimination is fallen by the wayside," said Matty Brown, a representative for CAMP Rehoboth. "We know there are even some biases in our own community of folks who might not want to donate because they haven't been able to for a decade, but at the end of the day these are life saving measures that we are able to provide."
John Kelly donated blood at the Lutheran Church of Our Savior in Rehoboth Beach. It was the first time he was able to donate in about forty years.
"This is a big step forward, especially for people my age who had been donating in the past and were cut off. It was kind of... it was very disheartening to go in and try to give blood in 1983 and be told 'no,'" said Kelly.
The Blood Bank of Delmarva and CAMP Rehoboth will be hosting a blood drive in Rehoboth Beach on Nov. 11.