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Content about Blood donation

April 15, 2013
Organs donated by man rejected because he was gay

After a 23-year-old attemped suicide and was taken off life support last year, it has inspired his family to try and change the rules of organ donation

A Canadian woman has said she believes her late son’s organs were rejected for donation because he was gay.

Nancy Campana says she was asked if her son Rocky, who was an organ donor, was gay after his death.

‘I was asked if he was a gay male and I said, “yes.” And I was asked if he was a sexually active gay male or if he had a partner and I said, “yes”,’ Campana told CBC News.

March 29, 2013
It’s time the US eased the ban on gay men giving blood

Campaigner Michael Kevin Hernandez wants more gay and bisexual men to have the right to be superheroes and give blood

When was the last time you thought about being a superhero and saving a life?

When I ask people, 'Who is an everyday superhero?' you might answer a firefighter, police officer, doctor, those in the military who serve our country. But we can all potentially be a superhero. You may already be one and not even know it, because you can donate blood.

Each time we donate blood we can save up to three lives. Someone who has suffered a car accident can use an average 100 pints of blood. At that moment when you donate blood you are saving a life. That makes you a hero.

March 25, 2013
Israel’s new health minister to remove ban on gay blood donations

Yael German, Israel’s new minister of health, has instructed a public committee to deliberate the removal of a ban on blood donations from gay men

In her first move as Israel's new health minister, Yael German instructed the ministry staff today (25 March) to reconsider the ban on accepting blood donations from gay men.

The form filled out by every blood donor in Israel states that men who have had sex with other men are prohibited from donating blood.

People who are HIV positive, used drugs or been exposed to mad-cow disease, among other constraints, are also prohibited from donating blood.

February 28, 2013
Video of Thai gay men protesting blood donation ban goes viral

A YouTube clip condemning the Thai Red Cross Society for not accepting 'gay blood' is watched over 13,000 times

Three gay men in Thailand have posted a video condemning the Thai Red Cross Society for not accepting 'gay blood'.

In the video posted on YouTube the three men angrily criticize the organization, part of the international Red Cross charity, that takes care of blood donation in the southeast Asian nation.

One of the men in the video talks about being refused as a blood donor by the Thai Red Cross society, Bangkok Post reports.

January 13, 2013
Canada moving to end lifetime blood donation ban on gay men

Canadian Blood Services have proposed an end to the country’s lifetime ban on gay men donating blood, recommending that those who have not had sex for five years or more should be acceptable donors

Canada looks set to end its lifetime ban on men-who-have-sex-with-men giving blood after a Canadian Blood Services recommendation that the ban be reduced to five years.

In September 2011 the Canadian Blood Services board of directors passed a motion committing the organization to re-examine its policy and in December it recommended to Health Canada that men-who-have-sex-with-men who have not been sexually active for five or more years should be considered acceptable donors.

November 30, 2012
Argentina one step closer to allowing gay blood donors

Congress has passed a bill that could ban clinics from asking blood donors their sexual orientation

Gays and lesbians in Argentina could be one step closer to donating blood.

The Chamber of Deputies passed on 29 November (Thursday) a bill that would modify the nation's blood donating laws.

The measure, to be debated by the Senate in 2013, would remove certain questions from forms used by clinics and hospitals that require potential blood donors to divulge their sexual orientation.

August 6, 2012
Calls for Poots to quit over gay blood donation row

Protesters in Londonderry urge for 'biased and illogical' ban on gay blood donations to be lifted in Northern Ireland

Protesters have called on Northern Ireland's health minister Edwin Poots to resign over his refusal to lift a ban on gay people donating blood.

LGBT rights activists shouted 'Give Poots the boot' outside a blood donation session in Londonderry on Saturday (4 August).

They then went inside to offer their blood, which the health service in Northern Ireland is still not allowed to accept, despite restrictions on gay donors being eased in the rest of the UK.

July 13, 2012
Gay blood is not poisonous

Summer Wu, volunteer for Shanghai-based lesbian organization Nvai, comments about how she feels about China’s lifting of the ban on lesbians giving blood

China lifted a ban on lesbians donating blood this month, but gay men are still strictly banned. Though I am pleased by this achievement, discriminatory regulation still exists.

July 3, 2012
China lifts ban on lesbians giving blood

Fourteen-year ban on lesbians donating blood has been lifted by China’s Ministry of Health, but sexually active gay men are still barred

China has lifted a 14-year ban on lesbians giving blood, the Ministry of Health announced on Sunday (1 July).

The director of Beijng-based lesbian organization Tong Yu (Common Language), giving her nickname Xian, told Global Times that she welcomed the move. She said she was arranging for a group of Tong Yu members to give blood soon. 

June 29, 2012
Gay man wins first battle for NI blood donations

High Court rules there is case for arguing that Northern Ireland ban on gay blood donations is 'irrational and unlawful'

An unidentified gay man has won the first stage of a court battle to lift an 'irrational and unlawful' ban on gay blood donations in Northern Ireland.

The ban, in place since the 1980s, was lifted in England, Scotland and Wales in November 2011.  But health minister, Edwin Poots, claims the outlawing of gay donations is is to ensure public safety.

June 28, 2012
Gay blood ban pressured for change at NI court

A Northern Ireland court has heard how a ban on gay men giving blood is ‘irrational and unlawful’

Lawyers representing an unidentified man have pressed the Northern Ireland health minister to lift a ban on gay blood donations.

The ban, in place since the 1980s, was lifted in England, Scotland and Wales in November 2011. However health minister, Edwin Poots, has maintained the ban saying it is to ensure public safety.

June 17, 2012
Health Minister stands by ban on UK gay blood donors

Edwin Poots suggests people who have sex with prostitutes and Africans should also be banned from giving blood

Health Minister Edwin Poots is standing by his decision to ban gay men in Northern Ireland from donating blood.

Speaking on the BBC Sunday Politics NI programme today (17 June), Poots said he received two new pieces of research this week that strengthened his position.

However Poots has said he does not want the ban to apply to gay people only.

He said: ‘I think that people who engage in high risk sexual behaviour in general should be excluded from giving blood.

June 14, 2012
Call for lifting of gay ban on World Blood Donor Day

Gay and bisexual men around the world are still banned or restricted from giving blood, even when risk is low

Campaigners are marking World Blood Donor Day by calling for the ban and restrictions on gay men giving blood to be lifted globally.

Today (14 June), the World Health Organization (WHO) is urging people to be a 'hero' and give the 'life-saving gift' of blood.

On its website, the UN agency states that 'every one of us can become a hero simply by giving blood'.

However, gay and bisexual men in most countries around the world are banned entirely from donating and in many where it is allowed, are required to abstain from sex for at least a year.

June 12, 2012
US senators seek to end ban on gay men donating blood

Senator John Kerry urges health officials to rely on 'science of today not the myths of 20 years ago'

Senator John Kerry wants the US Department of Health to end its policy of banning gay or bisexual men from donating blood.

Kerry and US Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois on Monday (11 June) sent a letter to the department urging it to move forward with a study that looks at ending the ban which has been in place since the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s.

June 6, 2012
Colombia Courts say clinics can't stop gays donating blood

The Constitutional Court of Colombia rules that clinics can't block someone from donating blood based on their sexual orientation

The Colombian constitutional court has ruled in favor of allowing gays to donate blood.

The court's ruling stems from a 2011 case when Higuera Escalante testing laboratory in Bucaramanga refused to accept a man's blood donation, after he stated his gay sexual orientation on the routine donation forms.

May 24, 2012
Review of blood donation discrimination does not go far enough

An Australian Red Cross review of blood donations rules does not go far enough to end discrimination against gay men, campaigners say

Campaigners who want to change Australia’s discriminatory blood donation rules for gay men say a review by the Australian Red Cross does not go far enough.

The newly published review recommends that the time gay men have to abstain from sex before giving blood be reduced from 12 to six months.

The Tasmania Gay and Lesbian Rights Group said that if the new recommendations are introduced the majority of gay men will still be unable to give blood.