Gay men and sperm donation, is it possible?

My dear friends,

I’m Oskar and I live in Chicago, IL… I’m seriously considering becoming a sperm donor, but I’m aware there are many phases before qualifying as a donor. I’ve been doing some research regarding the requirements, how the process work, etc. I’m gay and I know there’s some problem with us, but I’m not quite sure what’s the reason behind it… I’ve heard it could be because there is some risk that we are at risk of HIV transmission and that’s why, but I don’t quite understand it because heterosexual men may have even more serious diseases and they still are given a chance to qualify, I mean, at least they can undergo the different tests they have to and depending on the results, they are accepted or not, so I don’t understand why it isn’t the same for us.

Is there any logical explanation for that? Is there any clinic within the US or even overseas that may give me a chance? Or should I forget about donating sperm? I just want to clear my doubts… Thank you.

Hello Oskar,

First of all, thanks for getting involved. Secondly, it should be clear that gay men are not banned from sperm donation. However, it is true that there are some guidelines provided by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in relation to this issue.

According to FDA’s guidelines for sperm banks, men who have had sex with men (reffered to as “MSM”) in the previous 5 years are not recommended to qualify as sperm donors. This means these are just guidelines, provided that this policy is not mandatory or enforced.

For this reason, sperm banks are “free” to collect semen samples from gay and bisexual men or, conversely, abide by these guidelines and reject them.

You should take into account that everyone interested in becoming a sperm donor should undergo a thorough screening that includes a “quarantine period” aimed at testing the donor for STDs such as the HIV. Clinics in the USA don’t accept semen samples from carriers of viral or infectious diseases.

I recommend you to read the following topic to get further info about this quarantine period: Quarantine period for sperm donors.

Hope this helps