LGBTIQ+ advocacy organisation just.equal are continuing their calls to put an end to a historic ban on blood donations from men who have sex with men and transgender folks.
just.equal have written to all state, territory and federal health ministers, urging each to lift the celibacy requirement imposed on trans people who have had sex with men, and gay & bisexual+ men.
The letter follows the announcement by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) that the period potential donors would have to abstain from sex would be reduced from 12 months to three.
“We support a blood screening policy that assess potential donors for the safety of their sexual activity rather than the gender of their sexual partner,” just.equal spokesperson Rodney Croome said.
“Such a policy would make the blood supply safer, increase the supply of blood available to those in need, and consign to history a blood donor policy that stigmatises gay and transgender people as a threat to public health.”
“We have written to all health ministers, and to our allies in federal, state and territory parliaments, asking them to support a less discriminatory donor policy and subject the TGA’s proposal to the proper scrutiny it requires.”
“The three-month celibacy period doesn’t remove the stigma faced by gay and transgender people who seek to donate blood and is unlikely to increase the blood supply, so we want to know the science behind it”, Mr Croome said.
Croome also highlights the TGA’s 2014 decision to reject a proposal from the Red Cross Blood Service – Lifeblood – to reduce the waiting period to six months, asking “why the about-face now?”
“We would like to know if the TGA has considered expert evidence to Tasmanians Anti-Discrimination Tribunal in the case taken by Michael Cain which found there are gay men who currently can’t donate, whose blood is safer than the blood of heterosexual people who can donate?”
“Also, has the TGA taken into account research from the highly-respected Williams Institute at UCLA which estimates that if the gay blood ban was lifted in the United States an additional 615,300 pints of blood would be available per year which is the equivalent of an extra 22,400 litres in Australia?”
Croome adds that he believes the proposed three-month celibacy period should not be seen as a step forward.
“The three-month deferral is a step forward in the same way standing on a chair brings you closer to the moon.”
The campaign to end the waiting period for queer men and transgender folks has seen traction on the international stage, with France and Denmark reducing the time to four months, and Iceland making moves to remove their blanket ban.
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