Gay, Male and Hoping to Donate Blood? Try Alan Cumming's Celibacy Challenge

Trying to abstain from sex? Well, actor Alan Cumming has a list of activities for you to occupy your time. While the U.S. Food and Drink Administration has recently advised ending the ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, non-profit organizations GLAAD and the Gay Men's Health Crisis say it still has a ways to go. The FDA's recommendation comes with a caveat -- that these men must remain celibate for a least a year in order to be eligible donors. The rationale is that sexually-active homosexual men are at greater risk of contracting and transmitting HIV. For this reason, GLAAD and GMHC enlisted Saatchi & Saatchi, New York for a cheeky social media campaign with a serious message. In it, Mr. Cumming poses as the head of the "Department of Sexual Abstinence," and suggests a host of seemingly-innocent time wasters to keep men's minds off doing the dirty. The thing with trying not to think about something, though, is that you end up seeing it everywhere. Especially in this PSA. From phallic pottery shapes to hip-thrusting yoga moves, abstainers may not be able to escape sexual imagery. That's why the the organizations propose a petition to revise blood donation guidelines, such requiring all donors to be screened based on exposure to risk and not sexual orientation.

Gay, Male and Hoping to Donate Blood? Try Alan Cumming's Celibacy Challenge

Featured Stories