That evil, “homophobic” Trump administration we’ve heard so much about from left-wing critics just rolled back one of the most prominent anti-gay regulations still on the books.

On Thursday afternoon, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it will be removing the outdated, antiquated restriction that currently bars gay and bisexual men who have been sexually active within one year from donating blood. This will undoubtedly help ease the blood donation shortage caused by the coronavirus crisis, as fewer people have been willing to leave their homes to go donate, and large public blood drives have been canceled.

#BREAKING | To further increase blood donations safely, @realDonaldTrump's @US_FDA is reducing red tape and easing restrictions on gay men and other people wishing to donate. #COVID19 | https://t.co/48a76SnAl8 — Judd Deere (@JuddPDeere45) April 2, 2020

“At the FDA, we want to do everything we can to encourage more blood donations, which includes revisiting and updating some of our existing policies to help ensure we have an adequate blood supply, while still protecting the safety of our nation's blood supply,” the FDA told the Washington Examiner in a statement.

The FDA’s new guidelines reduce the restriction on donation to only bar gay men who have been sexually active within the last three months, allowing many new donors and partially removing an arbitrary, antiquated barrier. Similar reductions are being made for women with bisexual male partners and people who have recently gotten tattoos and piercings.

Surgeon General Jerome Adams stressed that this policy change was being made both to encourage new donors and reduce stigma against the gay community. He also emphasized that even with social distancing going on, it is still perfectly safe to go donate blood, in fact, he suggested it's one way we all can help pitch in during this crisis. (Click here to find a blood donation site near you.)

This rule will still bar many gay people whose blood is not seriously at risk for HIV contamination, such as monogamous, married gay men. This remaining restriction isn’t warranted, as there’s little risk of such men contracting HIV, and blood donations are tested for the disease anyway.

As I’ve previously explained , all blood donations are already tested rigorously, such that only 1 in 3.1 million HIV-infected donations will make it through the screening process.

The FDA said it is working on the data, moving toward a system more individual-based that would eventually bring even more prospective gay blood donors into the fold. The agency says they simply need more time, and they acknowledge their current change is not going to be the final step in this process. Even so, there’s no doubt this new rollback is a step in the right direction. It shows that the Trump administration readily embraces pro-gay policy changes when warranted.