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Openly gay Vail Valley U.S. Rep. Jared Polis speaks out on Orlando massacre

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June 14, 2016, 10:33 am
U.S. Rep. Jared Polis

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis

In the wake of Sunday’s mass shooting in Orlando, U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, an openly gay Boulder Democrat who represents the Vail Valley in Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, is calling for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to stop recommending its prohibition on sexually active gay men donating blood.

“My blood is as good as yours (O+ in my case),” Polis tweeted Sunday, right after news broke that there had been mass casualties at Pulse nightclub, which is popular with Orlando’s LGBT community. “Friends and spouses being turned away from donating blood to help their loved ones.”

Polis, co-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and the first openly gay parent to serve in Congress, also issued the following official statement:

“The Orlando shooting was a direct attack on equality, diversity, and freedom; it was an act of terror against all Americans,” Polis said. “Most tragically it snuffed out dozens of vibrant lives too soon, and darkened countless others. My heartfelt sympathy is with the victims as well as their families, friends, and the city of Orlando.

“My thoughts also remain with the entire LGBT community. Our community today has been the target of hate and terror, and it is tragic that members of the community who want to give blood to help their friends are unjustifiably prevented from doing so despite the need. While we mourn those lost, we must continue to be resilient. We, as a community, know that love will always prevail over hate.”

On Twitter, Polis repeatedly took on FDA policy on blood donation: “Blood donors needed to help victims of #Orlando mass shooting, but friends and spouses of those in need not allowed to give.”

Sexually active gay men have been blocked from donating blood for more than 30 years. The FDA recommended the ban during the peak of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. The federal agency eased the ban last year for men who have not been sexually active for a year or more, but Florida reportedly has not adopted those guidelines.

“Gay Americans can bleed red for our country by serving in the armed forces but not donate blood to help #orlando victims #EndTheBan,” Polis tweeted. “Listen up @US_FDA there is no such thing as gay blood, black, white, Muslim, Jewish, straight blood– it all bleeds red and can save live[s]. Correct @US_FDA policy is obvious. Use same behavior-based screening for LGBT, straight donors; risk a function of behavior NOT orientation.”

Sunday’s shooting by a Florida man claiming allegiance to radical Islamic terror groups and reportedly outraged by seeing gay men kissing in Miami is the worst mass shooting in United States history, with 50 dead, including the shooter.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday reportedly denounced presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his anti-Muslim rhetoric in the wake of the shooting.

“We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence,” Obama said of Trump’s comments and his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. “Where does this stop?”

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail
David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.