Other screening questions will remain the same. Potential donors will be asked about risk factors including sexual activity. Specifically they will be asked if they have had sexual contact with a new partner in the past three months and had anal sex.

The Red Cross said the decision is supported by decades of data collection and assessments, including the ADVANCE study. The study was funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

This study found that blood donor history questions could identify sexually active gay or bisexual men who had “lower-risk behaviors” that would be eligible to donate.

Lower-risk behaviors means the potential donor has not had sexual contact with a new partner in the past three months.

“There’s so much in the world that you can’t help with, and you sometimes have to see people going through difficult times, but something like giving blood feels like something so small that you can do, and it means a lot to me that I’ll be able to do that again,” Andrew Goldstein, a cancer researcher from Los Angeles, said in a statement.

In the ADVANCE study, more than 66% of gay or bisexual men reported only one sexual partner and no anal sex. Sixty-nine percent reported no new partners or anal sex in the past three months.

When asked why the organization did not change the policy years ago, the American Red Cross tweeted that all U.S. blood collectors are required to follow FDA eligibility guidelines.

According to the Red Cross, every 2 seconds someone in the United States needs blood and or platelets. The average blood cell transfusion is about three units of red blood cells, and about 29,000 units are needed every day. A car accident can require a person to receive as many as 100 units of blood.

“The Red Cross celebrates this historic move as significant progress and remains committed to achieving an inclusive blood donation process that treats all potential donors with equality and respect while maintaining the safety of the blood supply,” the Red Cross said in a statement.