Alan Cumming mocks year-long gay blood ban in hilarious ad

The Good Wife actor Alan Cumming stars in a clever new campaign to highlight America’s discriminatory ban on gay men donating blood, unless they’ve been celibate for a year.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in December that it would replace its total ban on men who have sex with men donating blood to the one year deferral policy.

In the humorous video, styled as an official government announcement, Cumming plays the “head of the Department of Sexual Abstinence.”

He urges gay men to take the “Celibacy Challenge” and not have sex for an entire year “to start saving some lives.”

Cumming, who is himself bisexual, also suggests a myriad of hilarious activities to keep these men’s minds off sex.

The campaign was launched by a coalition of organisations, including GLAAD and Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), to urge the FDA to implement a blood donation system that screens all donors based on risk for HIV transmission, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Activists say that the deferral remains a discriminatory policy as it is not based on good science.

“Stereotypes have no place in saving lives,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “The FDA’s proposed change still means that countless gay and bisexual men will be turned away from blood banks simply because of who they are.”

“Since the early days of the epidemic, GMHC has witnessed first-hand how fear, stigma, and discrimination have fueled the spread of HIV,” said Kelsey Louie, GMHC’s CEO. “The FDA’s ‘revised’ policy continues to fan the flames of the outdated stereotype that HIV is only a ‘gay disease.’”

A recent study found that by lifting the ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood the US could save almost two million lives.

There is a one year sexual activity blood donation deferral for gay men in other countries, including Japan, Sweden and the UK.

South Africa has among the most progressive and least discriminatory policies: a deferral for anyone – gay or straight – who has had any new sexual partner in the previous six months.