They also don’t take into account contemporary risk-reducing behaviours like using condoms and taking pre-exposure prophylaxis antiretroviral pills.Īs an emergency physician, I have seen donated blood save countless lives. Strangely, the same dogmatic rationale that bans gay men from donating allows straight people who engage in the same risky sexual behaviours to donate blood without so much as a caution. These policies are not based on risky behaviour they are based on heteronormative stereotypes that gay men act in ways that increase the odds of having HIV and other blood-borne diseases.
While some would call this progress, the bottom line is unchanged: national blood donation policies discriminate based on gender and sexuality. Others, like Brazil, have had the courts strike down bans on the basis of discrimination while a few, like Spain and Argentina, have no restrictions whatsoever.
#Can gay men donate blood in the united states windows#
The Netherlands, France and the United States adopted similar celibacy windows this year, in part because pandemic restrictions decreased donations and forced them to seek new donors. In 2019, Canada shifted to a three-month window during which gay men must abstain from oral and anal sex before donating. While the last few years have seen lifelong bans on gay men donating blood replaced with “deferral” policies that require gay men to abstain from sex for anywhere between three and 12 months, this is the first time gay men in a G8 country have not all been painted with the same brush. As a gay Canadian, it’s been a dream of mine to donate blood one that, despite the U.K.’s announcement, remains out of reach on this side of the pond.Ĭanada’s ban on men who have sex with men donating blood has been in place since 1977. The United Kingdom recently became one of the first countries in the world to commit to implementing an individualized, risk-based screening of donors and eliminate a blanket ban on gay men donating blood.