Jenkins gave his first blood donation in 23 years last month. 'It was very emotional for many people, including myself, because we have the ability to give, and for so long, we've just been told no, we're not good enough,' said Oklahomans for Equality Executive Director Toby Jenkins. Oklahomans for Equality has been hosting its first blood drives in decades since the rules have been relaxed, and they plan to continue to hold more. “Once it’s tested for being disease-free from all donors, there’s no way of telling which blood donation came from who.” “Blood is blood,” said Oklahoma Blood Institute Executive Director Jan Laub. Now the rules have been relaxed to where men who have sex with men must abstain from three months before being eligible to give. Rules were previously relaxed to where a gay man could give blood and plasma after abstaining from sexual activity for six months to a year, but for those in relationships and those who wanted to give during an event that happened on a day they found out about the rules, it was practically impossible to give.
