Gay Blood Donatn Ban Is Ineffective, Health Canada Documents Show

Contents:

• CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC NOW ALLOWS SOME GAY, BISEXUAL MEN TO DONATE PLASMA CALGARY, LONDON, ONT.
• NEWS IN VICTORIA: IN-DEPTH REPORTING AND LONGFORM JOURNALISMEE DAILY NEWSLETTERSUBSCRIBESUBSCRIBEOUR TEAMWHO ARE WEWORK WH USADVERTISESUBM NEWS TIPSNEWSLETTERHEALTHNEWSBASED ON FACTS EHER OBSERVED AND VERIFIED FIRSTHAND BY THE REPORTER, OR REPORTED AND VERIFIED OM KNOWLEDGEABLE SOURC.CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC MAY LOOSEN L ON GAY MEN. WHERE DO THAT LEAVE TRANSGENR DONORS?MEMBERS OF VICTORIA’S TRANS MUNY ARE ADVOTG FOR THE ELIMATN OF ‘DISCRIMATORY’ AND ‘FEAR-BASED’ BLOOD DONATN POLICIBY PHILIP MCLACHLANNOVEMBER 16, 2021HEALTHNEWSBASED ON FACTS EHER OBSERVED AND VERIFIED FIRSTHAND BY THE REPORTER, OR REPORTED AND VERIFIED OM KNOWLEDGEABLE SOURC.CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC MAY LOOSEN L ON GAY MEN. WHERE DO THAT LEAVE TRANSGENR DONORS?MEMBERS OF VICTORIA’S TRANS MUNY ARE ADVOTG FOR THE ELIMATN OF ‘DISCRIMATORY’ AND ‘FEAR-BASED’ BLOOD DONATN POLICIBY PHILIP MCLACHLANNOV 16, 2021JACK EDWARDS, A TRANS MAN, SAYS HE WANTS CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC TO CHANGE S POLICI AROUND TRANS DONORS. PHOTO: PHILIP MCLACHLAN / CAPAL DAILYCAPAL DAILY IS PART OF THE TST PROJECTLATTCOVIDTRANSPORTATNBSHOGGOOD NEWSJACK EDWARDS, A TRANS MAN, SAYS HE WANTS CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC TO CHANGE S POLICI AROUND TRANS DONORS. PHOTO: PHILIP MCLACHLAN / CAPAL DAILYCAPAL DAILY IS PART OF THE TST PROJECTGET THE NEWS AND EVENTS VICTORIA, YOUR BOX EVERY MORNG.I NSENT TO RECEIVG EMAILS OM THE CAPAL DAILY. I UNRSTAND I N UNSUBSCRIBE AT ANY TIME.THANK YOU! YOUR SUBMISSN HAS BEEN RECEIVED!OOPS! SOMETHG WENT WRONG WHILE SUBMTG THE FORM.LATT NEWSSATAN WANTS YOU DIRECTORS ON THE NSPIRACY THAT SHOOK VICTORIA—AND THE WORLDDES OF SERVICE NUU-CHAH-NULTH WATERS FOR WHAT ULD BE ‘THE LAST WOON EIGHTER ON THE AST’VICTORIA HARBOURCATS REACH LEAGUE FALS AFTER RERD-SETTG SEASONDRAGON BOAT FTIVAL RETURNS TO VICTORIA THIS WEEKENDHEALTHNEWSBASED ON FACTS EHER OBSERVED AND VERIFIED FIRSTHAND BY THE REPORTER, OR REPORTED AND VERIFIED OM KNOWLEDGEABLE SOURC.CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC MAY LOOSEN L ON GAY MEN. WHERE DO THAT LEAVE TRANSGENR DONORS?
• CANADA LIFTS RTRICTNS ON GAY MEN DONATG BLOOD
• UTAH’S ARUP BLOOD SERVIC TO EASE RTRICTNS ON GAY, BISEXUAL MALE DONORS
• GAY MAN FIGHTS 'DISCRIMATORY' POLICY THAT BANS HIM OM DONATG BLOOD. OTTAWA TRI TO BLOCK
• CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC SURVEY LOOKS AT RELAXG RTRICTNS ON GAY DONORS
• GAY BLOOD DONATN BAN IS INEFFECTIVE, HEALTH CANADA DOCUMENTS SHOW
• BLOOD AGENCY STUDI LIFTG BAN ON GAY DONORS
• FERAL JUDGE REJECTS HEALTH CANADA'S CLAIM HAS NO ROLE BARRG GAY MEN OM DONATG BLOOD
• LGBTQ ACTIVISTS HOPE OFFICIALS LET GAY MEN DONATE BLOOD AMID COVID-19 NCELLATNS

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

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. Canadian Blood Servic is ttg out s plasma donatn eligibily, London, Ont., and Calgary, for gay and bisexual men who have sex wh men.

(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. My blood is a rare type and ed to donate regularly before gay men were banned. "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.

NEWS IN VICTORIA: IN-DEPTH REPORTING AND LONGFORM JOURNALISMEE DAILY NEWSLETTERSUBSCRIBESUBSCRIBEOUR TEAMWHO ARE WEWORK WH USADVERTISESUBM NEWS TIPSNEWSLETTERHEALTHNEWSBASED ON FACTS EHER OBSERVED AND VERIFIED FIRSTHAND BY THE REPORTER, OR REPORTED AND VERIFIED OM KNOWLEDGEABLE SOURC.CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC MAY LOOSEN L ON GAY MEN. WHERE DO THAT LEAVE TRANSGENR DONORS?MEMBERS OF VICTORIA’S TRANS MUNY ARE ADVOTG FOR THE ELIMATN OF ‘DISCRIMATORY’ AND ‘FEAR-BASED’ BLOOD DONATN POLICIBY PHILIP MCLACHLANNOVEMBER 16, 2021HEALTHNEWSBASED ON FACTS EHER OBSERVED AND VERIFIED FIRSTHAND BY THE REPORTER, OR REPORTED AND VERIFIED OM KNOWLEDGEABLE SOURC.CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC MAY LOOSEN L ON GAY MEN. WHERE DO THAT LEAVE TRANSGENR DONORS?MEMBERS OF VICTORIA’S TRANS MUNY ARE ADVOTG FOR THE ELIMATN OF ‘DISCRIMATORY’ AND ‘FEAR-BASED’ BLOOD DONATN POLICIBY PHILIP MCLACHLANNOV 16, 2021JACK EDWARDS, A TRANS MAN, SAYS HE WANTS CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC TO CHANGE S POLICI AROUND TRANS DONORS. PHOTO: PHILIP MCLACHLAN / CAPAL DAILYCAPAL DAILY IS PART OF THE TST PROJECTLATTCOVIDTRANSPORTATNBSHOGGOOD NEWSJACK EDWARDS, A TRANS MAN, SAYS HE WANTS CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC TO CHANGE S POLICI AROUND TRANS DONORS. PHOTO: PHILIP MCLACHLAN / CAPAL DAILYCAPAL DAILY IS PART OF THE TST PROJECTGET THE NEWS AND EVENTS VICTORIA, YOUR BOX EVERY MORNG.I NSENT TO RECEIVG EMAILS OM THE CAPAL DAILY. I UNRSTAND I N UNSUBSCRIBE AT ANY TIME.THANK YOU! YOUR SUBMISSN HAS BEEN RECEIVED!OOPS! SOMETHG WENT WRONG WHILE SUBMTG THE FORM.LATT NEWSSATAN WANTS YOU DIRECTORS ON THE NSPIRACY THAT SHOOK VICTORIA—AND THE WORLDDES OF SERVICE NUU-CHAH-NULTH WATERS FOR WHAT ULD BE ‘THE LAST WOON EIGHTER ON THE AST’VICTORIA HARBOURCATS REACH LEAGUE FALS AFTER RERD-SETTG SEASONDRAGON BOAT FTIVAL RETURNS TO VICTORIA THIS WEEKENDHEALTHNEWSBASED ON FACTS EHER OBSERVED AND VERIFIED FIRSTHAND BY THE REPORTER, OR REPORTED AND VERIFIED OM KNOWLEDGEABLE SOURC.CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC MAY LOOSEN L ON GAY MEN. WHERE DO THAT LEAVE TRANSGENR DONORS?

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.

"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.

CANADA LIFTS RTRICTNS ON GAY MEN DONATG BLOOD

” Photo: Philip McLachlan / Capal Daily‘Ineffective’ and ‘unnecsary’The Canadian Prs first reported on Tuday morng that Canadian Blood Servic is askg Health Canada for permissn to change s l around gay male blood donors, toward screeng qutns based on behavur rather than sexual existg polici have a long the AIDS epimic began 1981, changed many thgs, cludg who was allowed to donate blood. ” Today, men who have sex wh men mt be abstent for three months before donatg, regardls of their sexual practic and has changed over the years—om a permanent ban for the gay and trans women muny, to a five-year ban, to a one-year, and now, fally, a three-month ban. ‍Issu surroundg the blood donatn procs for gay and trans women are nothg new.

In the years that followed, stori surfaced discsg the need for gay men to donate blood, about dividuals slammg l for transgenr blood donatns, and others allegg CBS’s polic are “anti-trans. This year, more discsns have taken place about the future of blood donatns for queer, gay, and trans people, and how current blood polici have left them feelg discrimated agast and years, Lawrence has advoted for members of the queer muny and has rearched extensively how the blood donatn qutnnaire and blood ban affects LGBTQ+ donors.

They also mand an admissn of harm om CBS, which they see as “an stutn that has been rponsible for perpetuatg homophobia and outdated iologi about genr. 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.

UTAH’S ARUP BLOOD SERVIC TO EASE RTRICTNS ON GAY, BISEXUAL MALE DONORS

Health Canada approved the requt by Canadian Blood Servic to end the policy that rtricts homosexuals om donatg blood for three months after engagg gay sex. The policy began 1992 as an outright ban on gay men donatg blood followg a tated blood sndal. Several chang were later ma to the blood donatn regime until ferral perds for donatns by gay men were lowered om a lifetime ban to three months 2019.

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

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.

CANADIAN BLOOD SERVIC SURVEY LOOKS AT RELAXG RTRICTNS ON GAY DONORS

"Health Canada is timately volved implementg, certaly approvg, this blood ban that is imposed on gay folks, " Ko 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. Graham Sher, CEO of Canadian Blood Servic photograph on January 30, 2013 Chan/The Globe and MailThere are no immediate plans to further relax rtrictns on gay and bisexual blood donors spe the fact officials are ttg the waters on the ia, says the agency rponsible for Canada's blood supply.

For example, HIV-negative gay men long-term monogamo relatnships should be eligible to donate Kennedy, executive director of the genr advocy group Egale, said the policy should be "based on science as opposed to based on a stereotype. "We support a amework based on behavur-based screeng on risks, not based on sexual orientatn, " said Jt Kaiser, print of the Young feral New Democrats have also said a five-year ferral discrimat agast gay men. Modifitns to Canada's blood policy would need to be approved by Health Canada, which said a statement would "review any proposal" prented by Canadian Blood lifetime ban agast donatns by gay men was implemented the mid-1980s by the Red Cross, which was rponsible for the blood supply system at the time.

GAY BLOOD DONATN BAN IS INEFFECTIVE, HEALTH CANADA DOCUMENTS SHOW

The gay blood ban is unnecsary, effective, and poorly targetted, ternal documents om Canada’s public health agency suggt. 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.

BLOOD AGENCY STUDI LIFTG BAN ON GAY DONORS

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. “We allow a sexually promiscuo heterosexual man who engag dangero activi to donate blood, but two gay men a lovg, stable, monogamo relatnship are not allowed. ScienceCanadian Blood Servic is nductg rearch to terme whether should lift s total ban on blood donatns om gay men.

Canadian Blood Servic is nductg rearch to terme whether should lift s total ban on blood donatns om gay not-for-prof anizatn, which manag most of Canada's blood supply, is dog a seri of studi on the issue, said Dr. Polici that uld differentiate between the high-risk and low-risk sectors of the gay muny.

Emergg risks certa populatns, not necsarily of the rearch foc on the high-risk sector of the gay muny, but "we're terted the low-risk si, " Goldman said. There is not much rearch to donatns om gay men  stable, monagamo relatnships, she blood agency nducted an pennt risk asssment of gay donors through the McLghl Centre for Populatn Health Ottawa last study said there is a higher risk associated wh changg the l to allow gays who have not had sex for a year to donate, but the evince for allowg donatns om gay men who have not had sex for five years may "provisnally pass the risk hurdle. As an example of the type of change beg nsired, Italy screens gay donors by askg if they have had a new partner or unprotected sex the past year.

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

"This is one of the alternative ways to screen" and the donors survey might explore that, Goldman phed to change lThe blood agency is unr prsure to change s creria to allow gay Thursday, doctors Mark Waberg, director of the McGill Universy AIDS Centre, and Norbert Gilmore, also of McGill, said sophistited tts are now available to ensure that blood donatns do not nta AIDS. "There's no doubt the blood agenci may have been rrect nyg gay men the right to donate blood when the policy was first stuted, about 25 or 30 years ago, but the realy is the tts have improved signifintly, " Waberg Canadian universy groups have spoken out agast what they say are outdated and discrimatory screeng practic for blood donors. Gay man fights 'discrimatory' policy that bans him om donatg blood.

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.

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

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. "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.