In the hours after a shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday left 50 dead and dozens wounded, U.S. Rep. Jared Polis took to Twitter to demand the federal Food and Drug Administration rescind its recommendation that sexually active gay men can’t donate blood.

“My blood is as good as yours (O+ in my case),” tweeted Polis, who is gay. “Friends and spouses being turned away from donating blood to help their loved ones.”

“Blood donors needed to help victims of #Orlando mass shooting, but friends and spouses of those in need not allowed to give,” he tweeted.

According to news reports, hundreds of potential blood donors lined up in Florida on Sunday to help victims of the worst mass shooting in American history.

But gay and bisexual men haven’t been able to donate blood since the FDA first put the ban in place more than 30 years ago at the height of the HIV and AIDS epidemic.

Last year, the agency relaxed the lifetime ban to allow donations from men who hadn’t had sex with other men for 12 months. (The Washington Post, however, reported Sunday that the local blood banks in the Orlando area hadn’t updated their guidelines to reflect the new FDA recommendations and were still imposing the lifetime ban on gay and bisexual male donors.)

Calling the ban “morally bankrupt” and “dangerous,” the Boulder Democrat pointed out the absurdity of forbidding a gay man from being able to donate blood to his own husband.

A series of Polis tweets made similar claims:

“Gay Americans can bleed red for our country by serving in the armed forces but not donate blood to help #orlando victims #EndTheBan,” read one.

“Listen up @US_FDA there is no such thing as gay blood, black, white, Muslim, Jewish, straight blood- it all bleeds red and can save live[s].”

Instead, Polis proposed, the FDA should recommend using the same criteria for gay and bisexual men as it does for everyone else.

“Correct @US_FDA policy is obvious!” he tweeted. “Use same behavior-based screening for LGBT, straight donors; risk a function of behavior NOT orientation.”

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com