Canada announced Thursday, April 28 that it will now be possible for gay men to donate blood. For the moment, this was forbidden to them if they had not observed a period of abstinence which had been gradually reduced in recent years. The country is therefore following in the footsteps of France, the United Kingdom and even Israel.
With our correspondent in Montreal, Alexis Gacon
It’s a change requested for a long time by associations for the defense of the rights of homosexual people: until then, men were excluded from donation if they had had sexual relations with other men in the last three months.
The new approach will now limit deferral to donors who engage in high-risk sexual behaviors, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. In Quebec, this ban will remain in the short term, except for plasma donations.
Discrimination
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recalled that he had campaigned in 2015 by promising the end of this prohibition which he considered discriminatory and which did not take into account scientific evidence.
The ban blood donation imposed on gay men had been implemented after a tainted blood scandal between 1980 and 1985 that caused the infection of 2,000 Canadians with HIV after receiving transfusions.
The rule change must be done by September 30.
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