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Scottish Parliament says no to lifting ban
Blood cells
No change on the UK-wide ban on gay blood donors
"The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service refuted claims that it was discriminating against homosexuals, and claimed it was simply ââ¬Ërecognising behavioural risksââ¬â¢"
The Blood Transfusion Service has today rejected an appeal to lift the UK-wide ban on gay men donating blood.
Gay rights groups called for the ban to be revoked after France, Italy and Spain all recently changed the laws regarding gay blood donors.
Current policy states that men who have had sex with another man can not donate blood. The Scottish Parliament petitions committee heard details of a rise in HIV cases, particularly in gay men - which, according to statistics, made up 86% of new HIV cases in the last year. The transfusion service alleged that the only way to keep blood donations safe was for the ban to remain in place.
The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service refuted claims that it was discriminating against homosexuals, and claimed it was simply ‘recognising behavioural risks’. Risks that gay rights campaigners say are just as likely in heterosexuals.
A petition was set up in April and presented to the Scottish Parliament's petition committee, where a spokesman for the LGBT Network said:
"The blanket ban on gay and bisexual men giving blood is an outdated policy that was put in place decades ago when people believed Aids was an exclusively gay disease.
"We now know that this is far from the case. There is no clinical reason for the blanket ban on gay and bisexual men giving blood.
"It is a policy from a bygone era, which unfairly discriminates.”
Although all blood donations are screened, some early stage infections can go undetected.
