Health Canada ends ban on blood donatns om gay men - The Globe and Mail

Contents:

• CANADA LIFTS RTRICTNS ON GAY MEN DONATG BLOOD
• CANADA TO LIFT BLOOD DONATN BAN ON SEXUALLY ACTIVE GAY, BISEXUAL MEN
• BLOOD SERVICE REMENDS ENDG BAN ON GAY MEN DONATG BLOOD
• CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC ASKS HEALTH CANADA TO DROP BAN ON GAY BLOOD DONATN
• CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC TO REMEND END OF BLOOD DONATN BAN ON GAY, BISEXUAL MEN
• CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC EXPANDS ELIGIBILY FOR SOME GAY MEN TO DONATE PLASMA AT CERTA CLICS
• HEALTH CANADA ENDS BAN ON BLOOD DONATNS OM GAY MEN
• BLOOD SERVICE REMENDS HEALTH CANADA END GAY BLOOD DONATN BAN
• CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC TO REMEND END TO BAN ON GAY MEN DONATG BLOOD
• FERAL JUDGE REJECTS HEALTH CANADA'S CLAIM HAS NO ROLE BARRG GAY MEN OM DONATG BLOOD
• CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC NOW ALLOWS SOME GAY, BISEXUAL MEN TO DONATE PLASMA CALGARY, LONDON, ONT.
• GAY BLOOD DONATN BAN IS INEFFECTIVE, HEALTH CANADA DOCUMENTS SHOW
• GAY MAN FIGHTS 'DISCRIMATORY' POLICY THAT BANS HIM OM DONATG BLOOD. OTTAWA TRI TO BLOCK
• LGBTQ ACTIVISTS HOPE OFFICIALS LET GAY MEN DONATE BLOOD AMID COVID-19 NCELLATNS
• STEPPG STON OR SEND CLASS DONORS?: A QUALATIVE ANALYSIS OF GAY, BISEXUAL, AND QUEER MEN’S PERSPECTIV ON PLASMA DONATN POLICY CANADA
• CANADA MAY SOON REPEAL ITS DISCRIMATORY GAY BLOOD BAN

CANADA LIFTS RTRICTNS ON GAY MEN DONATG BLOOD

OTTAWA (AP) — Health Canada on Thursday lifted rtrictns on gay men donatg blood, a move Prime Mister Jt T said was “good news for all Canadians” but had taken too long. HealthCanadian Blood Servic submted a proposal to Health Canada Wednday to end the ban on sexually active gay men donatg blood and suggted that screeng foc on high-risk behavurs for all donors Canada expected to rpond to Canadian Blood Servic remendatn by sprgCanadian Blood Servic has sent a submissn to Health Canada remendg an end to the ban on sexually active gay men donatg blood.

CANADA TO LIFT BLOOD DONATN BAN ON SEXUALLY ACTIVE GAY, BISEXUAL MEN

(Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Prs)Canadian Blood Servic on Wednday remend an end to the ban on sexually active gay men donatg blood a submissn to Health submted a proposal, backed by rearch, suggtg that screeng foc on high-risk behavur — cludg havg multiple sexual partners — by all donors stead.

BLOOD SERVICE REMENDS ENDG BAN ON GAY MEN DONATG BLOOD

Feral misters, cludg the prime mister, have said they want to speed up an end to the gay blood ban, and Health Canada is expected to rpond to the blood-service remendatn by the sprg. Canadian Blood Servic now allows some gay, bisexual men to donate plasma Calgary, London, blood service has suggted that the new screeng qutns be changed to foc on risk, not sexual potential donors would be asked if they have had new or multiple sexual partners. “To remove this part that was discrimatory towards men who have sex wh men, gay men and bisexuals, ’s a step the right directn for the LGBTQ2S+ people this untry.

Asked about the Canadian Blood Servic announcement that they will subm a remendatn to end the blood donatn ban on gay and bisexual men, Health Mister Jean-Yv Duclos said Monday the ernment would work “quickly” to end the ban once the remendatn is received – Dec 13, 2021. The partment said aims to review the submissns wh 90 days, however this n vary pendg on the ntent and pletens of the terim measure that allowed gay men to donate plasma at some clics was approved September.

At that time, Canadian Blood Servic told Global News that this program was not tend to be permanent, as they hoped that broar permissn for gay donors would soon be granted. An end to the ban on gay and bisexual men om donatg blood — promised by Prime Mister Jt T 2015 — is set to be remend wh weeks favour of new screeng creria based on sexual history and behavur.

CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC ASKS HEALTH CANADA TO DROP BAN ON GAY BLOOD DONATN

But anyone who has had anal sex wh a new partner or multiple partners the prev three months _ regardls of their partner’s genr _ mt wa three months before stands now Canada, a gay man who has had sex wh one partner the last three months nnot give blood, but a straight man n, no matter how many partners he has had sex wh durg the same time ame. I have argued there are two thgs wrong (wh this policy): rtrictg the blood supply and promotg homophobia, ” he Canada, which regulat the blood service, n only change the creria if evince is prented showg this will not crease risk. We have more evince than ever before, stemmg om the MSM Rearch Program, ternatnal data and Canada-specific risk mollg, that dit sexual behavur-based screeng will not troduce risk to the blood supply, ” Lewis troduced a lifetime ban for gay men 1992.

CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC TO REMEND END OF BLOOD DONATN BAN ON GAY, BISEXUAL MEN

In the two ci, gay, bisexual and other men who have sex wh men n donate plasma — the yellowish liquid which blood cells are spend — if they have not had a new sexual partner the last three months, and their current sexual partner has not had sex wh anyone else that time, CBS said a release Tuday.

CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC EXPANDS ELIGIBILY FOR SOME GAY MEN TO DONATE PLASMA AT CERTA CLICS

“Var untri have dropped or changed their screeng creria for blood donatn recent years, cludg Italy, Portugal and June, the Uned Kgdom implemented a behavur-based policy that will allow gay, bisexual and MSM to be able to donate blood, plasma and platelets whout a ferral perd. Canadian Blood Servic has today remend that Canada end the ban on gay men donatg blood, a submissn to Health McIntosh/The Canadian PrsThe feral ernment will no longer tomatilly ban sexually active gay and bisexual men om donatg blood to Canadian Blood Servic, endg a policy that has long been cricized as discrimatory and lackg scientific Canada announced the cisn Thursday, years after Prime Mister Jt T promised to elimate the ban.

HEALTH CANADA ENDS BAN ON BLOOD DONATNS OM GAY MEN

Prr to Thursday’s announcement, Canada blocked gay and bisexual men, as well as other men who have sex wh men, om donatg blood unls three months had passed sce their last sexual ntact wh men.

Opn: Canada should have scrapped s homophobic ban on blood donatns om gay men long agoBlood service remends Health Canada end gay blood donatn banCanadian Blood Servic spokperson Cathere Lewis said the new procs is ground science.

BLOOD SERVICE REMENDS HEALTH CANADA END GAY BLOOD DONATN BAN

In 2013, Health Canada said gay men uld donate blood, so long as they had not had sex wh other men the prr five Liberal Party promised to end the ban durg the 2015 electn mpaign that brought the T ernment to power. Open this photo gallery:A blood donor clic pictured at a shoppg mall Calgary on March 27, McIntosh/The Canadian PrsCanadian Blood Servic on Wednday remend an end to the ban on sexually active gay men donatg blood a submissn to Health submted a proposal, backed by rearch, suggtg that donor screeng foc on high-risk behavur, cludg havg multiple sexual partners.

CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC TO REMEND END TO BAN ON GAY MEN DONATG BLOOD

Feral misters, cludg the Prime Mister, have said they want to speed up an end to the gay blood ban, and Health Canada is expected to rpond to the blood-service remendatn by the sprg. Jagmeet Sgh, the NDP Lear, weled the proposed change and said that banng gay men om donatg blood was “homophobic” and not backed up by Hickey, an LGBTQ mpaigner, said the liftg of the ban had taken far too long.

“The blood ban has rerced negative stereotyp that have perpetuated homophobia, biphobia and transphobia wh society g our muny to experience addnal margalizatn, ” they said. 1 prry, ” donated blood is screened but that screeng is not 100-per-cent accurate, which is why potential donors are asked qutns to crease risk of transmissn of fected blood service has clud s own rearch and evince om overseas, cludg Bra which has already end s gay blood ban, s submissn. Héma-Québec, the Quebec blood service, dited on Wednday that too may favour a softeng of the l banng gay men om donatg Morng Update and Eveng Update newsletters are wrten by Globe edors, givg you a ncise summary of the day’s most important headl.

Open this photo gallery:A blood donor clic at a shoppg mall McIntosh/The Canadian PrsAn end to the ban on gay and bisexual men om donatg blood – promised by Prime Mister Jt T 2015 – is set to be remend wh weeks favour of new screeng creria based on sexual history and behavur. But anyone who has had anal sex wh a new partner or multiple partners the prev three months – regardls of their partner’s genr – mt wa three months before stands now Canada, a gay man who has had sex wh one partner the last three months nnot give blood, but a straight man n, no matter how many partners he has had sex wh durg the same time Canadian Blood Servic tts all of s donated blood products for a whole host of diseas, cludg HIV, the agency says no tt is 100 per cent ’s why eligibily screeng is such an important part of limg the risk to blood recipients, acrdg to the agency’s Lachowsky, who did not ment on the specific qutns that will be clud the Canadian proposal, said a ntral approach mak much more sense than basg rtrictns on genr and sexualy. “That means that we’re creasg, my md, the safety of the blood system broadly, ” he T has e unr prsure om MPs and the LGBTQ muny to scrap qutns for donors aimed at gay men.

FERAL JUDGE REJECTS HEALTH CANADA'S CLAIM HAS NO ROLE BARRG GAY MEN OM DONATG BLOOD

” The MP has been prsg misters to end the gay and bisexual blood-donatn ban for almost 10 years, and said he did not want further lays by Health Canada to halt an end to the ban.

CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC NOW ALLOWS SOME GAY, BISEXUAL MEN TO DONATE PLASMA CALGARY, LONDON, ONT.

We have more evince than ever before, stemmg om the MSM rearch program, ternatnal data and Canada-specific risk mollg, that dit sexual behavur-based screeng will not troduce risk to the blood supply, ” Lewis troduced a lifetime ban for gay men 1992. The procs, which often volv requts for more tailed rmatn, uld take several months to a year before the chang take Dunn, the first openly gay Conservative MP to be elected, said the prime mister should make implementg the blood service’s remendatn “a prry.

Ottawa tri to block Blood-donatn ferral perd drops to 3 months for gay, bisexual menKaras and his lawyers, Gregory Ko and Shakir Rahim, argue that while Health Canada do not directly take blood donatns, grants regulatory approval to screeng by Canadian Blood Canada disagreed, argug  has never issued a directive requirg that Canadian Blood Servic adopt the ban.

The partment says only reviews the blood service's polici and procr for safety reasons and has no legal thory to direct the arm's-length agency to do feral ernment went to urt to block a human rights plat accg of backg the Canadian Blood Servic policy on donatns om gay and bisexual men. LondonCanadian Blood Servic is takg the first steps to allowg gay and bisexual men who have sex wh men — which lls the gbMSM muny — to donate blood plasma, startg the tt ci of Calgary and London, agency's prev policy has been lled discrimatory, cludg by men who have sex wh menBlood plasma is the straw-loured liquid ponent left when blood cells are removed om whole blood.

GAY BLOOD DONATN BAN IS INEFFECTIVE, HEALTH CANADA DOCUMENTS SHOW

(Hiep Vu via Canadian Blood Servic)Canadian Blood Servic is takg the first steps to allowg gay and bisexual men who have sex wh men — which lls the gbMSM muny — to donate blood plasma, which is startg two tt ci: Calgary, Alta., and London, marks the first time the agency is openg donatns to gay and bisexual men. "Plasma donated by gay, bisexual and other men who have sex wh men London and Calgary will be ma to plasma prote products when the donor at least 60 days later wh a plasma donatn that tts negative for fect diseas.

It is ed a variety of treatments for rare, life-threateng, chronic and geic years, Canadian Blood Servic has e unr fire for not allowg men who have sex wh men to donate blood, a practice many ll homophobic. The agency did not say when would expand the current plasma donatn abily to other centr beyond Calgary and ferral perd drops to 3 months for gay, bisexual men"We unrstand that beg turned away om donatg n leave any donor wh a sense of tratn and disappotment, " the agency said.

GAY MAN FIGHTS 'DISCRIMATORY' POLICY THAT BANS HIM OM DONATG BLOOD. OTTAWA TRI TO BLOCK

"We also regnize that the slow pace of chang to donor creria that still exclu many gay, bisexual and other men who have sex wh men has been paful and tratg for many, and we are workg to create a more clive system. They got to work tryg to re-tablish tst the system and, on top of improved ttg and screeng, they banned gay men om donatg the last , the ban has faced opposn as beg effective and anachronistic. A trans man, then, would be subject to the same ban on men who have sex wh Canada not the ternal reports that gay men are the harst-h by HIV, prisg about half of all new fectns.

”In other words, the donor creria mak a class-based distctn for gay men and their partners, who are more likely to know their HIV stat; but mak no attempt to screen for heterosexual donors, who also reprent a signifint number of new HIV fectns and are ls likely to know their documents note that both Italy and Spa e liftyle-based qutnnair, stead of banng an entire sexualy, to screen for potentially-fect Monday, the Uned Kgdom announced was movg towards a liftyle-based screeng, allowg gay men long-term relatnships to donate blood. As VICE World News reported 2016, Ottawa has the power to remove the ban, unr sectn 13 of the Blood Regulatns, but choos not Wednday, Conservative Member of Parliament Eric Dunn, the first openly gay MP om the party, stigated the prime mister. In October, their health cric Don Davi put the qutn to Rob Oliphant, a Liberal MP who is, himself, gay and therefore banned om ban, “is not based on science but on stereotype, ” Davi argued.

A gay man  Ontar will be urt later this month argug that Health Canada discrimat agast him by overseeg the ban preventg men who recently have had sex wh other men om donatg feral ernment has been tryg to block that challenge, argug has no power to change Canadian Blood Servic' donor creria. "Blood-donatn ferral perd drops to 3 months for gay, bisexual menLGBT activist's plat over wa perd for blood donatn referred to human rights tribunal"To have erroneo polici that are archaic and discrimatory like this, barrg donors and disuragg donors om donatg and creatg stigma, is an appropriate way for our blood system to operate, " he said. "It is not pla and obv at the prelimary stage that the rponnt is not a party to the alleged discrimatn, " said the human rights renews ph to get T ernment to end 'homophobic' blood donor policyGay activist fil feral human rights plat over blood-donatn wa perdNow, the Attorney General of Canada, on behalf of Health Canada, is tryg to stop that quiry and is seekg a judicial review of the Canadian Human Rights Commissn's cisn at the Feral Court urt documents filed earlier this year, the ernment repeated s claim that Health Canada did not discrimate agast Karas and also acced the Canadian Human Rights Commissn of pursug an unfair vtigatn.

LGBTQ ACTIVISTS HOPE OFFICIALS LET GAY MEN DONATE BLOOD AMID COVID-19 NCELLATNS

"When we see notic about blood shortag and the urgent need for donatn, 's very tratg to be a posn where you n't donate even though you would be an eligible match, " said Costcu, a sexual health specialist and associate profsor at McMaster anizatn won't allow gay and bisexual men like Costcu to donate blood if they are sexually active unr s current guil — spe seeg people ncel appotments amid lls for social distancg to avoid spreadg the l state that men n't have sex wh other men for three months before beg allowed to give blood bee the anizatn believ the hort is a high-risk group, as they acunt for the largt proportn of new HIV fectns reported Dt Costcu, a sexual health specialist and associate profsor at McMaster Universy Haton, who is gay, said Canadian Blood Servic should look to gay and bisexual men as donors. (McMaster Universy)Gay and bisexual men have faced rtrictns sce the tated blood sndal of the 1980s, when thoands of Canadians were fected wh HIV or hepatis C om donated blood. That approach screens out gay men who have unprotected sex wh multiple partners, as opposed to those who are monogamo ferral perd drops to 3 months for gay, bisexual menOpnThis is not your father's gay blood ban era.

Costcu also said now is the time to donate bee all the ncellatns and closur have eed up time to give blood, pecially before Canada se a spike s that aren't travel-related — but the polici preventg gay and bisexual men to donate are workg agast that. Feral judge rejects Health Canada's claim has no role barrg gay men om donatg bloodLiberal ndidate ref to fend blood donatn rtrictns for some gay menThe blood service says is preparg to ce evince om untri that do not ask donors such qutns, as well as rearch on risk of HIV transmissn, s submissn to Health Canada wh the next six weeks. But anyone who has had anal sex wh a new partner or multiple partners the prev three months — regardls of their partner's genr — mt wa three months before stands now Canada, a gay man who has had sex wh one partner the last three months nnot give blood, but a straight man n, no matter how many partners he has had sex wh durg the same time Mister Jt T has e unr prsure om MPs and the LGBTQ muny to scrap qutns for donors aimed at gay men.

STEPPG STON OR SEND CLASS DONORS?: A QUALATIVE ANALYSIS OF GAY, BISEXUAL, AND QUEER MEN’S PERSPECTIV ON PLASMA DONATN POLICY CANADA

Canadian Blood Servic now allows some gay, bisexual men to donate plasma Calgary, London, mtee to study blood donor l for men who've had sex wh men"I have been llg for a shift to risk-based creria for a . I have argued there are two thgs wrong [wh this policy]: rtrictg the blood supply and promotg homophobia, " he Canada, which regulat the blood service, n only change the creria if evince is prented showg this will not crease risk.

We have more evince than ever before, stemmg om the MSM Rearch Program, ternatnal data and Canada-specific risk mollg, that dit sexual behavur-based screeng will not troduce risk to the blood supply, " Lewis troduced a lifetime ban for gay men 1992. While foc group participants exprsed some tert beg plasma donors if eligible, some “were left bter and aaid that the [plasma] programme would be ed to sistep MSM’s mands regardg whole blood donatn, and to end discsns wh LGBTQ+ [lbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer] muni” [23] Israel, Levy et al.

The trends Canada are keepg wh recent policy chang France, Japan, Denmark, the Uned Stat, and the Uned Kgdom, that have shifted om fe bans to time-based ferments of between 3 to 6 months [6, 27] prev analysis of the views of gay, bisexual, queer, and other men who have sex wh men (GBM) [6] ncerng blood donatn policy and willgns to donate blood if eligible has drawn on theori of blogil cizenship [28, 29] and sexual cizenship [30, 31]. Bee of the extra safety mechanisms, one potential blood donatn policy beg explored is allowg HIV negative/stat unknown gay men and other men who have sex wh men to donate plasma even if they have had sex more recently and would not be able to donate blood.

CANADA MAY SOON REPEAL ITS DISCRIMATORY GAY BLOOD BAN

While not perfect, some participants saw this potential policy alternative as one which was ls discrimatory toward GBM, by not systematilly excludg them as a group, wh one man statg, “what is tertg wh plasma is that they are sayg, y, there is a possibily to clu [gay men]. So, while would be somethg I would probably be able to do physilly, still wouldn’t have emotnal or cultural safety for me to put myself that suatn, pecially havg to go repeatedly to monstrate that my sampl are good enough or safe enough (30s, Vanuver) man felt that a plasma-based policy alternative clive of MSM failed to aquately addrs the stigma and homophobia associated wh Canada’s blood operators and existg MSM ferral practic, which ntued to make him feel unsafe—pecially as a trans man—and unwillg to donate. Summarizg the negative attus of some GBM about this plasma policy optn, another participant stated:I’d still say like, okay but you’re settg an unfair precent on gay men where you’re not dog on straight upl.

G., what is currently llected only meets 13–14% of the need for immune globul (Ig)—a high-mand plasma prote product [21] we have scribed elsewhere: “we refer to the target populatn of the current ferral policy as beg for men who have sex wh men (MSM), but reference the participants we terviewed as [gay, bisexual, queer, and other men who have sex wh men] GBM to signify the diverse ways which they intified themselv.

MSM is an epimlogil tegory wh policy relevance, but everyday people are more likely to refer to themselv and muni through mon monikers or inti like gay, bisexual, and queer” [5] was termed by g the HIV Risk Inx for men who have sex wh men (HIRI-MSM) sr which measur the likelihood of MSM acquirg HIV based on sexual behavurs, health history, and other soc-mographic rmatn [33]; 39% of participants were at higher risk for HIV (> 10) at the time of their basele quantative survey.