Opinion: “Why it’s time for an inclusive blood donation policy”
The issue of whether or not gay men should be able to donate blood is a complex one, and this week we’ll be looking at both sides of the debate. Today, YouTuber and political commentator Lewis Parker (pictured) writes about why he believes a more inclusive blood donation policy is overdue.
If you’re a gay man and have safe sex, you are unable to give blood. If you’re a straight man and engage in unsafe sex, you can. It’s a policy that makes no sense.
The current guidelines state that men who have sex with men (MSM) can only give blood in England, Wales and Scotland if they have not had sex for 12 months or more. In Northern Ireland, they remain barred for life.
It was only in 2011 when the lifetime ban in England, Wales and Scotland was lifted. It was, and the current legislation continues to be, based on legislation from the 1980s.
For many gay men, the 12-month deferral criteria still acts as a lifetime ban. It’s a ban on an entire section of society because of their sexual orientation. It’s discrimination, and it adds to old prejudicial ideas that sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV are ‘gay diseases’.
That’s not to say that HIV, Hepatitis and other sexually transmitted diseases aren’t more prevalent within the gay community, because research shows that they are.
However, if you’re a straight, promiscuous man sleeping with multiple partners – and practising unsafe sex – you pass through the criteria and are able to donate blood. Yet a monogamous, healthy, sexually active gay man who’s practising safe sex and having regular checkups is unable to. It’s wrong. It’s unfair. It’s illogical.
Anyone – regardless of sexuality, race, or gender – is at risk if they engage in unprotected sex with partners of unknown HIV or STD status. If they have put themselves at risk, then they should face the same criteria.
Every year we see headlines that tell us our blood supply is in crisis. The NHS is crying out for thousands of new donors. Recent studies have found that 70% more volunteers will need to donate in order to keep blood stocks at a safe level.
We need to act on this now before it becomes a real crisis and people start dying because we have no blood to give them. Rules that ban those who are healthy and pose no more of a threat than the average straight person no longer make sense.
The debate around gay blood donation should of course put the safety of patients both receiving and donating first. However, in an age where as a gay man I can get married and have equal rights in the workplace, equalising the right to donate blood is the next frontier for gay rights in this country.
The NHS Blood and Transplant Service stresses that all donations are put through a rigorous amount of tests before they are released for distribution. Their website states:
“The tests play a very important role in ensuring that we provide a safe blood supply to patients. We test for your blood group, so that we can select the correct group for the patient. We also test for infections that can be passed from donor to patient via a blood transfusion.”
The testing checks for Syphillis, Hepatitis B (HBV), Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV), and the Human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV).
For many infections and diseases, there is a window period where they are unable to be detected. However, the one-year deferral criteria is in no way correlated to the length of time it takes to detect them within donated blood.
Instead, the criteria should be targeted at individual assessments of risky behaviour – not a particular minority group – and monogamous gay men who practise safe sex should not be categorised as ‘high risk’ and be unable to donate blood should they not refrain from having sex for 12 months.
Today, FreedomToDonate launched their campaign for a new review into the blood donation criteria. They are supported by national LGBT charities, parliamentarians, and medical professionals. I wholeheartedly support the campaign.
They aren’t just campaigning on the current regulations regarding gay men, but also on those who have had sex for money, and those who have ever injected drugs. The campaign aims to change the current rules, based on modern medical science – by calling for a fresh review to by The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO).
6,000 life saving blood transfusions take place in the UK every single day, and now more than ever, we need to ensure a safe and sufficient supply of blood. The time has come for an inclusive blood donation policy.
You can keep up to date with them by following FreedomToDonate on Twitter and can sign their petition to the government lobbying the government for fairer and safer regulations here.
Words by LEWIS PARKER.
Lewis Parker is the Head of Media for the Freedom to Donate campaign – the opinions expressed here are his own, rather than those of the campaign.