Lifetime blood donor ban for gay men lifted - as long as they haven't had sex for a year

[dipsydoodle]

Source: The Mail

Gay men will be able to give blood as long as they haven't had sex for 12 months, the Government announced today.

A lifetime ban on gay men who had ever had sex was put in place in the UK in the 1980s as a response to the spread of Aids and HIV.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2035004/Lifetime-blood-donor-ban-gay-men-lifted--long-havent-sex-year.html#ixzz1XMDPU8nB


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2035004/Lifetime-blood-donor-ban-gay-men-lifted--long-havent-sex-year.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

---

BBC link now added :

The lifetime ban on blood donations by homosexual and bisexual men will be lifted in England, Scotland and Wales.

Ministers have agreed to let men who have not had sex with another man in the past 12 months to donate from November.

The restrictions were put in place in the 1980s to prevent the risk of HIV contamination.

However, the latest medical evidence presented to a government panel argued the ban could no longer be justified.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14824310

[PeaceNikki]

1. Fantastic!! Hopefully the FDA will follow suit very soon.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Please see subsequent qualification.

.

[PeaceNikki]

3. Hrm. Only celibate gays, huh?

That's weird.

But it's a start, I guess.

[dipsydoodle]

4. I can honestly say

that if I personally had ever need a transfusion I wouldn't have given a shit about it origin. From memory it was an issue partly to do with hemophiliacs needing transfusion.

AS you said - its a start.

[Divine Discontent]

5. I wonder how many lives are lost due to the people these rules scare off

such archaic and bigoted rules all around the world... when the blood is there for the offering.

glad to see the UK change though, even with the one year rule, hopefully America will follow, for it is these things, that intentionally discriminate against GLBT people (like DADT), that cause grief.

[qb]

6. All hetero male sluts welcome. Monogamous gays need not apply.

:eyes: