Should Atralia end rtrictns on gay and bisexual men donatg blood? | Health | The Guardian

Contents:

• THE GAY MEN WHO N DONATE BLOOD THE UK FOR THE FIRST TIME
• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN ARE NOW ALLOWED TO DONATE BLOOD IN ENGLAND, STLAND AND WAL
• DONATN CHANGE TO ALLOW MORE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN TO GIVE BLOOD
• NI BLOOD DONATN LE CHANG FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN LAYED
• GAY, BISEXUAL MEN N GIVE BLOOD FOR THE FIRST TIME AFTER THE FDA EASED S DONATN POLICI. HERE’S HOW THEY FEEL.
• U.K. ENDS RTRICTN ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN DONATG BLOOD
• THE GAY MEN BREAKG BLOOD DONATN L
• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN FACE EASIER BLOOD DONATNS AFTER 'LANDMARK' LG
• SHOULD ATRALIA END RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN DONATG BLOOD?
• I’M 43 – BUT I’M MA TO FEEL LIKE A DOSR BY YOUNGER GAY MEN
• NEW BLOOD DONATN RUL TO LOOSEN RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• FOR GAY MEN DONATG BLOOD, THE DISCRIMATN ISN’T OVER – YET
• UTAH’S ARUP BLOOD SERVIC TO EASE RTRICTNS ON GAY, BISEXUAL MALE DONORS
• RELAXATN OF BLOOD DONATN REQUIREMENTS FOR GAY BLOOD DONORS
• UK EAS RTRICTNS ON BLOOD DONATNS OM GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN 'LANDMARK CHANGE'

THE GAY MEN WHO N DONATE BLOOD THE UK FOR THE FIRST TIME

Can gay men give blood?

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN ARE NOW ALLOWED TO DONATE BLOOD IN ENGLAND, STLAND AND WAL

Gay and bisexual men are not tomatilly prevented om givg blood.

DONATN CHANGE TO ALLOW MORE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN TO GIVE BLOOD

Gay uple Osr and Xavier say they feel "proud" about donatg blood for the very first time the now, any male donor who'd had sex wh another man the prev three months uldn't give blood. Gay and bisexual men England, Stland, and Wal n now donate blood, plasma and platelets unr certa circumstanc whout havg to wa three months, the Natnal Health Service announced this week.

Gay and bisexual men England, Stland, and Wal n now donate blood, plasma and platelets unr certa circumstanc, the Natnal Health Service announced this week a momento shift policy for most of the U. Begng Monday, gay men sexually active, monogamo relatnships for at least three months n donate for the first time. S, the abily for gay and bisexual men to donate blood is still rtricted.

NI BLOOD DONATN LE CHANG FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN LAYED

A ban on gay and bisexual blood donors has been effect sce the early 1980s when fears about HIV/AIDS were wispread. In orr to gather data related to the possibily of g an dividual risk asssment behavr-based health history qutnnaire the U.S., the Red Cross, along wh One Blood, Valant and partner LGBTQ+ muny health centers, are participatg a pilot study fund by the FDA select ci that uld potentially lead to chang for blood donor eligibily creria for gay and bisexual men. The FAIR chang mean that many more gay, bi men and other men who have sex wh men be able to donate blood more easily.

GAY, BISEXUAL MEN N GIVE BLOOD FOR THE FIRST TIME AFTER THE FDA EASED S DONATN POLICI. HERE’S HOW THEY FEEL.

Image source, Getty ImagChang to the l about blood donatn for gay and bisexual men NI have been layed due to a lack of staff and trag chang mean men who have been a same-sex relatnship for more than three months would be able to were announced last December and are due to be implemented across the UK om the Northern Ireland Blood Transfn Service (NIBTS) has had to lay until said was bee some of the systems are not yet chief executive Kar Jackson said the lay was due to not havg accs to staff and trag Jackson said the ronavis panmic has had a substantial impact on the service, which has been foced on blood llectn for the NI populatn over the last said a staff trag programme was now beg rolled out and the chang should be implemented "over summer months for new donors who meet new creria".

(Illtratn by Aisha Yoaf for Yahoo/Getty Imag)Jefey Marks, a 62-year-old wrer livg Ccnati has btersweet feelgs about the Food and Dg Admistratn’s recent cisn to ease rtrictns on queer men donatg a close iend fell ill many years ago, Marks had tried donatg blood at the iend's requt but he was turned away om performg the potentially life savg act bee he was gay, spe havg been a long-term monogamo relatnship wh a man for years. "The s-long FDA ban on queer men donatg, begun 1983, was direct rponse to the HIV/AIDS crisis, which disproportnately affected gay and bisexual men. Later, 2020, beme a three-month perd, due to an creased need for donatns the early days of, on May 11, the FDA enacted a plan to lift all rtrictns that directly target gay and bisexual men, choosg stead to asss all donors equally, regardls of their genr or sexual inty.

He has wanted to donate blood for years but never uld bee he is gay. Prevly, gay and bisexual men England, Stland and Wal were not permted to donate wh three months of havg been sexually active, due to fears around the transmissn of HIV/AIDS and other fectns, spe studi showg no creased risk, as all donor sampl are tted Northern Ireland Blood Transfn Service has layed implementg the new creria until September, sayg needs more time to prepare for the December, followg a two-year-long study led by Brish blood servic and LGBTQ groups, the NHS announced would be revisg s creria effective this summer.

U.K. ENDS RTRICTN ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN DONATG BLOOD

Gay and bisexual men who had revered om vid-19 were also barred om donatg their plasma to U.

THE GAY MEN BREAKG BLOOD DONATN L

Policy remas discrimatory as is based on “membership a group … rather than engagement risky behavr, such as unprotected sex, ” read a statement on the anizatn’s sexually active gay men are barred, said, a straight man or woman “who has had unprotected sex wh multiple partners over the same time ame wh no knowledge of their personal histori remas the donor pool. "It galls me every time I hear an advert on the rad askg for people to give blood, when there's a huge sectn of society that is jt nied that for no good reason, " says David - not his real is a sexually active gay man who donat blood to the NHS several tim a year. 'Deep homophobia'The Advisory Commtee on the Safety of Blood, Tissu and Organs (SaBTO) - which advis UK health partments - remend the chang after ncludg new ttg systems were accurate and donors were good at plyg wh the followed mpaigng om LGBT anisatns.

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN FACE EASIER BLOOD DONATNS AFTER 'LANDMARK' LG

But for some, is still not says the law remas "rooted ep homophobia".

SHOULD ATRALIA END RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN DONATG BLOOD?

GAY and bisexual men a long-term relatnships will be able to donate blood om next summer, a "landmark" lg has announced. LGBTQI+ groups have lled for Atralia to change s policy on blood donatns om gay and bisexual men the light of mov other untri to relax July the UK removed s three-month abstence perd for gay and bisexual men donatg blood, and moved to an dividual risk asssment for all donors, regardls of genr or sexual partner. A number of other natns, cludg the Netherlands, Israel, Argenta, France and Germany, have abolished their ban on blood donatns for particular groups sce the panmic began, or plan to do so unr Atralian policy, gay men or trans women who have sex wh men are unable to donate blood if their sexual abstence perd is ls than three months.

“Mollg suggts this would actually crease the amount of safe blood available to those need of blood products, ” she ban on gay blood donatns was put place the 1980s when much ls was known about the tectn and transmissn of HIV/ appli to all sexually active gay men, as well as sexually active bisexual men and transgenr women who have sex wh men – cludg those long-term Heiger timated that he donated blood as a teenager more than a dozen tim, before g out as gay. “It rerc negative nnotatns of gay sex and stigmatisg certa groups of men. I fight agast the ia only gay men n ntract HIV.

Said the new guil would be more clive and were based on a review of data om other Fremson/The New York TimThe Food and Dg Admistratn plans to revise a longstandg policy that exclud most gay and bisexual men om blood donatn, stead adoptg an approach that will screen donors pendg on their recent sexual activy, agency officials said on move follows years of cricism om L. Feral officials have long jtified the excln of gay and bisexual men as a way to keep H. In 2015, the agency allowed gay and bisexual men to donate if they had not had sexual ntact wh other men for the prev perd was rced to three months after severe blood shortag durg the Covid-19 F.

I’M 43 – BUT I’M MA TO FEEL LIKE A DOSR BY YOUNGER GAY MEN

Said the agency’s proposal was an important step forward that would enable him — a gay married man — and many others to perform an important public service. Said the new approach would be genr-clive — the screeng would also apply to women who have sex wh gay and bisexual men — and would foc on dividual risk, not blanket prohibns on groups. A., shapg the proposal, reviewed data om a recent study of about 1, 600 gay and bisexual men eight metropolan areas.

”But, as a gay man, he said that not havg the abily to donate blood had ma him feel “shunned by the ernment, ” and he was disappoted that the change took so long. More about Ey AnthA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 21 of the New York edn wh the headle: New Blood Donatn Rul to Loosen Rtrictns on Gay and Bisexual Men. I was young, and still pretty naive about queer sexuali and all that me wh them, but already seemed obv that somethg about gay sex was viant and dirty; those who engaged to be treated wh mistst.

On first spectn, this might look like a step forward – the week that marks 50 years sce the partial crimalisatn of homosexualy, an important and progrsive step.

NEW BLOOD DONATN RUL TO LOOSEN RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

Heterosexual men n have unprotected sex wh multiple partners – plete strangers – and still donate blood, while a gay or bisexual man who practis safe sex wh a known partner is exclud for a three-month perd.

More than one-fifth of the total diagnosed as HIV+ were urse, HIV still disproportnately affects the gay muny – fectn rat are at an alarmgly high level – but the realy is that anyone you sleep wh uld be at risk.

FOR GAY MEN DONATG BLOOD, THE DISCRIMATN ISN’T OVER – YET

So we tst heterosexual people to know their sexual history and be open, but the same n’t be said for gay men – a suatn that vok the trop of viancy for which gay men have been ostracised for ’s val that we don’t rerce stigma of those who are more sexually active than others, and wh multiple partners of whatever genr (there’s nothg wrong wh havg safe and nsensual sex). But for now will ntue to feel as if gay men n’t be tsted if they engage sexual activy, take preutns or be tthful about what they’ve done.

Gay blood donors will have fewer requirements the UK. Relaxatn of blood donatn requirements for gay blood donors.

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

Current requirements for all gay blood donors to absta om sex for three months before donatg blood overled wh new measur England and New Zeland. A recent article published the Brish newspaper The Guardian, entled “Blood donor l to be relaxed for gay and bisexual men England”, says that the new policy will take effect summer 2021. The blood donor gays l currently require to absta om sex for three months to give blood.

Anal sex as an act, irrpective of whether you’re gay or straight, is associated wh a greater risk of transmissn of blood-borne vis like HIV, ”.

In this rpect, another article published The Lancet-Haematology approach blood donor gay risks om a scientific pot the view. In the particular se of gay and bisexual donors, the thors say that, “Morn HIV ttg platforms are highly accurate, wh improvements nucleic acid ttg and velopment of fifth-generatn antibody and antigen tts creasg sensivy to almost 100% (95% CI 96·7–100) and specificy to 99·5%.

RELAXATN OF BLOOD DONATN REQUIREMENTS FOR GAY BLOOD DONORS

Gay blood donors will be able to donate the UK and New Zealand. Health officials the Uned Kgdom announced Monday that blood donatn l for gay and bisexual men will be relaxed next year what the ernment lled a "landmark change. Bee I'm gay, I'm exclud.

Bra is one of many untri, cludg the Uned Stat, which have long rtricted donatns om gay and bisexual men and other groups an attempt to prevent the spreadg of HIV through the blood supply.

UK EAS RTRICTNS ON BLOOD DONATNS OM GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN 'LANDMARK CHANGE'

LGBTQ activists have challenged the polici, sayg that they are unnecsary given current ttg technology and that they stigmatize gay and bisexual men. The change, which also applied to people wh recent tattoos and piercgs, me rponse to a drop the natn’s blood supply triggered by the ronavis April:FDA eas rtrictns on blood donatns om gay and bisexual men durg ronavis panmicContributg: The Associated PrsFollow N'a Yancey-Bragg on Twter: @NaYanceyBragg.

Can I give blood if I am gay?