“Long Overdue”
Lauterbach wants to allow homosexuals as blood donors
01/10/2023 3:24 p.m
The measure dates back to the time of the AIDS crisis: due to concerns about the virus being passed on, stricter rules still apply to homosexual men than to heterosexual men. This should now be over, explains Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach from the SPD wants to end discrimination against homosexual men when donating blood. With the planned change in the law, the German Medical Association will be obliged to adapt its blood donation guidelines within four months and to allow homosexual men as blood donors, said Lauterbach. The Lesbian and Gay Association in Germany (LSVD) welcomed the planned change in the transfusion law and called it “long overdue”.
“Whether someone can become a blood donor is a question of risky behavior, not of sexual orientation,” Lauterbach said. “Hidden discrimination shouldn’t be allowed on this issue either.” The German Medical Association must “finally understand what has long been a consensus in social life”.
The blood donation restrictions for homosexuals date back to the time of the AIDS crisis. This was due to the concern that gay men are particularly at risk of passing on the virus by donating blood. The measure has long been criticized as discriminatory, the traffic light parties had agreed in their coalition agreement to abolish it. According to the RND, Lauterbach’s amendment to the transfusion law now states: “Sexual orientation and gender identity must not be exclusion or deferral criteria.”
“Group-related exclusions not permitted”
According to the currently applicable guideline of the German Medical Association, men who have sex with men can only donate blood if they have not had sexual intercourse with “a new or more than one sexual partner” in the past four months. For all other people, on the other hand, this barrier only exists with “frequently changing partners”. The guideline was last relaxed slightly in 2021 – before that, the deadline was twelve months.
According to the RND, it should now be stipulated that the sexual risk that leads to an exclusion or a deferral of the donation may only be determined “on the basis of the individual behavior of the person willing to donate”. “Group-related exclusion or provision facts are no longer permissible in this respect.”
According to the report, the German Medical Association has four months after the amendment to the law, which is scheduled to come into force on April 1, to work out a new, non-discriminatory guideline in agreement with the state Paul Ehrlich Institute.
“Discrimination jeopardizes the well-being of patients”
The FDP health expert Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus explained that the previous regulation was “not only out of date, but also simply discriminatory”. She emphasized: “Anyone who wants to donate blood should also be able to do so, because donating blood saves lives.” FDP MP Jürgen Lenders emphasized: “The current discrimination against men who have sex with men when donating blood endangers the well-being of patients given the precarious situation in blood supplies.”
The deputy leader of the SPD parliamentary group, Dagmar Schmidt, said: “The fact that men who have sex with men are only allowed to donate blood to a limited extent is discriminatory.” With the planned amendment to the transfusion law, “we are ensuring that this one-sided, different treatment is eliminated.” She pointed out that all blood donations would now be tested for HIV and other communicable diseases, “this will also ensure the highest possible level of safety in the future.”
Alfonso Pantisano, board member of the Lesbian and Gay Federation, said: “Abolishing this discrimination has been a long journey and an uphill battle.” With the change in the law, a long-standing requirement of the LSVD will be implemented. However, it must be ensured that blood donors “are not differentiated according to sexual orientation and gender identity and thus excluded”. Pantisano criticized that the previous regulation was based on stigmatization and created discrimination.