Blood donation is now possible for everyone, under health conditions. The end of unjustified discrimination against homosexual men.
The announcement was made in January 2022 and has been effective since March 16, 2022: the possibility of donating blood is open to anyone in good health weighing more than 50 kg. It no longer excludes men having homosexual relations, previously excluded de facto by the questionnaire distributed by theFrench Blood Establishment. The questionnaire has been redesigned to ask questions not about sexual orientation but about risky practices, such as sexuality with several partners, or under drugs for example.
If the person wishing to donate blood has such practices, the four-month period before donating is maintained, but regardless of their gender and orientation. Why is this decision historic? Because at the time of the AIDS crisis, the possibility of donating blood for homosexual men was suppressed.
A blood donation law that has evolved
From 1983 to 2016, the blood donation was simply forbidden to homosexual men. The law changed in July 2016, allowing them to donate blood, but this possibility remained subject to a period of sexual abstinence of one year, then reduced to four months. The current change takes into account the fact that it is not sexual orientation that increases the risk of HIV infection, but risky sexual practices in general. The decision is all the more positive as the French blood establishment lacks blood. If you wish to participate in a collection, go to the EFS website to find the point closest to you.