Why Gay and Bisexual Men Are Unable to Donate Blood

Despite supposed recent advancements in their civil rights, the LGBTQ+ community still faces a host of societal obstacles. As it stands, homosexuality is criminalized in 69 countries, and members of the LGBTQ+ community even face the threat of the death penalty in 12 of them. These prejudices are not just specific to the political realm: they’ve spilled over to the medical field as well.  

Outdated laws borne out of prejudice and set in stone many decades ago are still actively oppressing LGBTQ+ people today, even in more ‘progressive’ countries. One hot-button issue today that is a direct consequence of these laws is the question of blood transfusion and the regulations around it. Since the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, bisexual and gay men in the UK and the US have been banned from giving blood under threat of penalty of law, unless they can prove they’re celibate, a deeply discriminative law when you consider that in 1983, the disease was detected in women, thereby demonstrating that HIV/AIDS was specific to gay men.

Granted, since the passage of these laws, blood transfusion restrictions on gay and bisexual men have eased. Most notably, the UK has allowed gay men in monogamous relationships to donate blood.

It is estimated that around 100,000 people in the UK are HIV positive, a minuscule proportion when you consider its population of 66 million. While their plight is not to be discounted, it is undeniable that HIV/AIDS is not all that big a problem for the UK. The country with the most HIV cases – South Africa – has a population of 59 million people, and 7.5 million of them live with HIV. And yet, in 2006, they amended their blood service rules to allow homosexual men to donate (with the provision that they were celibate for six months). If even they took action, what’s stopping the United Kingdom?

These oppressive restrictions don’t just harm the LGBTQ+ community; they harm the broader community as a whole. For example, in the US, FDA restrictions require queer men to have been celibate for a year. Due to the pandemic, blood donations have plummeted, pressuring the FDA to ease the restrictions down to 3 months. As rightfully pointed out by GLAAD’s director of communication, Matthew Lasky, “these time deferrals are based on discrimination and stigma, not science” and it’s only been confirmed by April’s time decrease.

Without a doubt, what we need is a logical approach to medical regulations that are not exclusionary. After all, everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, should be able to provide for people in need.