Currently in France, homosexuals can only donate blood if they have not had sex for four months. That should change in mid-March.
Homosexuals are not allowed to donate blood in many countries.
(dpa) Sexually active gay and bisexual men will also be allowed to donate blood in France in the future. “We are ending an injustice that could no longer be justified,” wrote Health Minister Olivier Véran on Twitter on Tuesday. Currently, men can only donate blood if they have not had same-sex sex in the past four months. This regulation is to be repealed on March 16.
Dès le 16 mars, tous les français, quelles que soient leurs orientations sexuales, pourront thunder leur sang!
Nous mettons fin à une inégalité qui n’était plus justifiée. #DonDeSang? pic.twitter.com/wjnd1ylqt1– Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) January 11, 2022
According to the ministry, the questionnaire, which must be completed before the donation, should no longer contain any criteria or questions about men who have sex with men. The questionnaire should be expanded to include questions about taking preventive medication before or after exposure to HIV risk. A blood donation is excluded for four months after the last intake, according to the ministry.
From 1983 men who had same-sex sex were banned from donating blood for fear of the AIDS virus. In 2016, France then allowed blood donations for sexual abstainers.