Please take my 'gay' blood donations!

  • by: John Moore
  • recipient: UK Government, NHS, Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO)

Ladies and Gents,

My story begins two years ago at school when the craze of giving blood for the first time was flooding wide-spread throughout my year group. An NHS representative gave us a talk and people fought their way to the front to sign up, as did I.

Out of interest, I asked the nurse about my being gay and was given an archaic and heart-wrenching answer, "Sorry, you're more likely to have HIV so must wait a year with no sexual relations with a man." I answered back with a prompt, "Yeah, like thats going to happen." I may have shaken it off in front of my friends, but I returned home in floods of tears.

My Grandpa has donated blood for over 50 years and I dreamed to follow in his footsteps and was struck down to find out it wasn't to be.

In a country in which gay rights are supposed to be improving, why must gay men still wait a year without sexual relations to donate blood? Every single droplet of blood donated to the NHS every year is tested for any disease or issues- especially for HIV. Whilst there is a time period between HIV infection and detection, a year's ban is much longer than necessary. All gay men are currently treated the same with no consideration given to whether protection (condoms) were used - or whether the sex was 'risky'. There is a strong case for only excluding men who’ve had risky sex without a condom.

The NHS are giving up on a large portion of possible donors and it breaks my heart that I can't help people. It makes me feel discriminated against and diseased. I want the NHS and, more importantly, the government to make a change.

Please take the time to sign this petition and make a difference. I hate to think someone in my local hospital is needing a few pints of blood that I'd happily donate but can't due to my sexuality.

Thank you for your help to eradicate discrimination.

Dear NHS and UK Government,

In a country in which gay rights are supposed to be improving, why must gay men still wait a year without sexual relations to donate blood? Every single droplet of blood donated to the NHS every year is tested for any disease or issues - especially for HIV.

Whilst there is a time period between HIV infection and detection, a year's ban is much longer than necessary. The blood service could opt for a much shorter exclusion period.

It should focus on excluding donors who have engaged in risky sexual behaviour and those whose HIV status cannot be accurately determined because of the delay between the date of infection and the date when the HIV virus and HIV antibodies manifest and become detectable in an infected person’s blood.

Reducing the exclusion period for blood donations from gay and bisexual men should go hand-in-hand with a ‘Safe Blood’ education campaign targeted at the gay community, to ensure that no one donates blood if they are at risk of HIV and other blood-borne infections due to unsafe sexual behaviour.

We also need a major drive to vaccinate gay and bisexual men against Hepatitis A and B, to prevent these infections getting into the blood supply.

In addition, the questionnaire that would-be blood donors have to answer should be made more detailed for men who’ve had sex with men, in order to more accurately identify the degree of risk, if any, that their blood may pose. A few additional questions would improve donor awareness of risk factors and more accurately exclude those whose blood may not be safe.

There is a strong case for only excluding men who’ve had risky sex without a condom.

Sadly, the blood service’s new policy makes no distinction between sex with a condom and sex without one. Any oral or anal sex between men in the previous 12 months – even with protection – will be grounds for continuing to refuse a donor under the new rules. This is unjustified. If a condom is used correctly, it is absolute protection against the transmission and contraction of HIV. Men who use condoms every time without breakages – and who test HIV negative – should not be barred from donating blood.

With these provisos and safeguards, a shorter exclusion period would be reasonable and not endanger the blood supply. The blood donated would be safe.

Please change your policy as suggested above.

I look forward to hearing your response.
Sign Petition
Sign Petition
You have JavaScript disabled. Without it, our site might not function properly.

Privacy Policy

By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.

Having problems signing this? Let us know.