Donating Blood: A Fight for Equality in Canada

“Approximately every minute of every day, someone in Canada needs blood” - Canadian Blood Services

So then why are we unnecessarily discriminating against healthy gay men who practice safe and/or monogamous sex?

In Canada, there is no prejudice for people to donate blood, unless they are gay and male. 

With today’s technology and the fact that both Héma-Quebec and the Canadian Blood Services “Screen every donor and test each unit of blood or blood product collected for a variety of transmissible diseases”, there should exist no prejudice for healthy and willing gay men to help save lives by choosing to donate blood. 

Clean blood is the same whether it comes from a man, woman, heterosexual, gay or lesbian. In 2013 it is unfair to make a gay man feel discriminated against and dirty, even though he is proven to be clean, just for being gay. 

In regards to the discriminatory ban, on their website, Héma-Quebec explains that “This blood donor selection criterion was added in the early 1980s in most industrialized countries when it came to light that sex between men was a major mode of transmission of HIV and when methods to detect the virus were not available.”

Since 2002, Canada’s blood is tested with “high-precision technology, which has an internationally proven track record.”

It is time for Health Canada to get with the times and realize that their prejudice is  strongly unjustified.

Many countries around the world have already rightfully moved past this issue, including:

- Italy and Spain determine potential donors by focusing on safe sex practices for all individuals equally, rather than just sexual orientation. They have also improved their blood screening process, which benefits all receivers.

- Poland has absolutely no ban on gay men donating blood.

- As of December 25th 2012, Mexico has completely lifted their gay blood ban.

Why is Canada so behind on the times?

Héma-Quebec has recently stated that “Héma-Québec supports lifting the current permanent exclusion and, in its place, applying a temporary exclusion period of five years to men who have or have had sex with another man.”

Though an attempted improvement, this does not justly rectify the discrimination. This potential 5 year exclusion does not qualify safe-sex-practitioners or monogamous gay men to donate their blood to save lives. In fact, it’s the same as saying “if you’ve experimented with homosexuality, but have come back to the ‘correct way of being’, after 5 years, you may be permitted to donate blood”. 

By means of this petition, we are asking for you to rise up and tell Health Canada that the criteria for donating blood should not focus on sexual preference, but rather safe-sex practices for all and by all, without prejudice. 

If you agree, please sign. Together we can make it an equal right for all individuals, no matter their sexual preference, to donate blood to save lives!