The FDA released draft guidelines Tuesday that would change the rules preventing gay and bisexual men from donating blood. Current rules, instituted at the beginning of the HIV epidemic in 1985, prohibit all men who have sex with men from donating blood regardless of their sexual histories.

Advocates have argued that the rule is discriminatory and unnecessary, given what we now know about HIV and how fast it can be detected in the blood. The federal draft guidelines reflect recommendations by an advisory panel that suggested lifting the lifetime ban and instead allow donations from gay and bisexual men who had not had sex with another man for at least one year.

While some are hailing this as a success, others see it as continuing discrimination and entrenched homophobia in federal policy.

Since 1985, potential blood donors have been asked to fill out a questionnaire about their lives and behaviors. Men who identify as gay or bisexual are automatically excluded from donation blood.

Public health experts and AIDS activists have called on the FDA for years to change the lifetime ban on blood donation, saying it reflected outdated information and added to HIV stigma. Activists have staged “gay blood drives” to call attention to and protest the ban. In 2013, gay men showed up at 52 blood donation sites across the country to give blood, knowing their donation would be rejected.

“This ban is medically unwarranted, and this drive is the only way we can motion for change,” the organizer of the event explained to CNN at the time. “The gay community shouldn’t be written off as diseased.”

A similar event was held in 2014; another one is scheduled for July 10.

Activists and medical experts believe it makes more sense to look at behavior instead of focusing on sexual orientation as a blanket category. A gay man in a decades-long monogamous relationship with another man, for example, is less likely to have HIV than a heterosexual man or woman who has had numerous partners in the past few months or years.

The American Medical Association in 2013 issued a formal opposition to the lifetime blood donation ban and suggested a new policy of rational, scientifically based deferral periods that are fairly and consistently applied to blood donors.

“The lifetime ban on blood donation for men who have sex with men is discriminatory and not based on sound science,” AMA Board Member William Kobler explained at the time. “This new policy urges a federal policy change to ensure blood donation bans or deferrals are applied to donors according to their individual level of risk and are not based on sexual orientation alone.”

The American Red Cross, the American Association of Blood Banks and American Blood Center—the three organizations that together supply almost all of the blood in this country—are opposed to the lifetime ban and support a policy of deferrals. They issued a joint statement last fall that said, in part:

The blood banking community strongly supports the use of rational, scientifically-based deferral periods that are applied fairly and consistently among blood donors who engage in similar risk activities .… We believe all potential donors should be treated with fairness, equality and respect.

This proposed “one-year deferral policy” is similar to rules that have been adopted in other countries, such as Australia, Britain, Japan, and Sweden. It is also similar to the current rules in the United States for other groups considered to be at a higher risk of HIV.

For example, sex workers and injection drug users are both allowed to donate blood if they have not engaged in that behavior for one year and have tested negative for HIV. People who have traveled to certain parts of Africa where HIV rates are high also need to wait one year and have a negative HIV test before donating blood.

Experts suggest that the one-year policy is sufficient to protect the safety of the nation’s blood supply.

While many activists are calling the draft guidelines a step in the right direction, they are expressing disappointment that the plan still focuses on potential donors’ sexual orientation and not behavior.

“This policy prevents men from donating life-saving blood based solely on their sexual orientation rather than actual risk to the blood supply,” David Stacy, government affairs director for the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “It simply cannot be justified in light of current scientific research and updated blood screening technology.”

The FDA has now opened a 60-day comment period for the public to provide feedback on the draft document.