An eye donation from an Iowa teenager was denied because the young man was gay, under a Food and Drug Administration ruling that is now three decades old.
A few months prior to committing suicide at age 16, A.J. Betts volunteered as an organ donor.
Sheryl Moore, the late teen's mother, received a letter informing her of the disposition of her child's organs, including his heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys. In the accounting, she learned that A.J.'s eyes were not accepted, due to his sexual orientation.
An FDA ruling, put into place during the height of the AIDS epidemic, prohibits men who have sex with other men from donating many tissues.
The mother was unsure whether or not her son had been sexually active in the last five years. Therefore, donations of the boy's eyes and skin tissues were rejected.
"My initial feeling was just very angry because I couldn't understand why my 16-year-old son's eyes couldn't be donated just because he was gay," Moore said.
Under the same FDA regulation, homosexual and bisexual men are permanently banned from donating blood. Blood donations are accepted from heterosexual donors who have had intercourse with HIV-infected partners or prostitutes after one year. Many critics of the policy say the practice is outdated, not in line with current knowledge. The ban was put in place in 1983, in the first years of the AIDS knowledge, when no simple test for the virus was available.
"[The] FDA's deferral policy is based on the documented increased risk of certain transfusion transmissible infections, such as HIV, associated with male-to-male sex and is not based on any judgment concerning the donor's sexual orientation," the agency wrote on their website.
Betts took his own life in July 2013 after being bullied over his racial heritage, which was half African-American, as well as his sexual orientation and a cleft lip.
"Although scientific evidence has not yet demonstrated that blood donated by [men who have sex with men] or a subgroup of these potential donors does not have a substantially increased rate of HIV infection compared to currently accepted blood donors, the FDA remains willing to consider new approaches to donor screening and testing," an FDA spokesman told Time Magazine.
Organ and tissues have different rules and regulations than blood, and many of these are less clear. Although A.J.'s eyes were lost, the rest of his organs were able to benefit others who were in need of replacement body parts, in order to lead healthier lives.
"I was very happy to hear that a 14-year-old boy got his heart. He would have really liked that," Moore told the press.
