Weiner Denounces Gay Blood Ban

One day after he lost Edith Windsor’s endorsement to Christine Quinn. Anthony Weiner worked to win back some gay votes by denouncing the FDA’s ban on blood donations.

“Why does it still exist? Simple. Fear,” Weiner said outside a blood donation center on the upper East Side. The issue was one Weiner said he also tackled while in Congress when he and 32 other members petitioned the FDA to “revisit the limitation.” At the time, he said, the agency responded that the ban was “not optimal,” but kept it in place. At Weiner’s side, Brad Baso, 34, said he learned in college that he couldn’t give blood when he had to fill out a questionnaire that asked about his sexual orientation. He said he was disappointed because he wanted to help.Weiner said he wants to have a science-based conversation about the ban — which ignores that blood donations are tested for the HIV virus that causes AIDS, he added — adding that those tests have gotten better over the years.