In 1985 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) instituted a rule that homosexual men may not be blood donors. The FDA had determined this was necessary after a rash of innocent people received HIV infections via blood transfusions. Many other countries, such as Canada, also have instituted those restrictions.

The reasons are clear. As the National Journal observed this week: Men who have sex with other men, including gay and bisexual men, have an HIV infection rate 60 times higher than that of the general population, the FDA says. They have an infection rate 800 times higher than first-time blood donors and 8,000 times higher than the rate of repeat blood donors. Tests cannot pick up a new HIV infection in the blood with 100 percent accuracy; because blood is often pooled, many people may be at risk from a single infected donor.

As a result of the FDA’s ban, the nation’s blood supply has been relatively safe from HIV danger. But that could be changing if the current efforts by the homosexual movement and its allies are successful.