Social network giant Twitter has banned onsite blood drives in its offices worldwide where regulations do not permit blood donations from gay or bisexual men, a move that LGBT-rights advocates say is a first for a public technology company.

Currently in the United States, under a policy by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that is more than three decades old, men who have sex with other men cannot donate blood.

Twitter has urged the FDA to lift its restrictions on blood donations from gay men and instead to base its regulations on sexual behavior, not orientation, according to a letter the company sent to the federal agency in July.

A blood drive was held at its New York offices last year, she said.

...