TATCHELL URGES THT AND GMFA TO HELP END GAY BLOOD BAN
News by HOMOVISION on November 27, 2009 at 10:50 am
Peter Tatchell and OutRage! are urging gay charities the Terrence Higgins Trust and Gay Men Fighting Aids to actively campaign for an end to the blanket, lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood.
“We have campaigned against the universal gay blood ban for 17 years, since 1992. THT and GMFA have previously criticised us. They have defended the exclusion of all gay and bisexual donors. We hope they will now join the campaign by OutRage!, the National Aids Trust and the National Union of Students to ensure that this sweeping ban is overturned,” says Tatchell.
“The government’s Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) is currently undertaking a review. In our bid to secure a change of policy we would value the public support and expertise of THT and GMFA,” he adds.
“The National Blood Service is issuing an urgent appeal for donors, ahead of the winter flu season. Some of the potential shortfall in the blood supply could be met if the total ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood was lifted.
“The lifetime ban is backed by the government, which claims to oppose homophobic discrimination. It is based on the stererotyped, irrational, bigoted and unscientific assumption that the blood of any man who has had oral or anal sex with another man – even just once 40 years ago with a condom – is unsafe. This is nonsense.
“The priority must be to protect the blood supply from infection with HIV. But this can be achieved without a universal ban on all gay and bisexual men,” says Tatchell.
Other countries have ditched their lifetime exclusion, including New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Japan and Australia. Since Spain and Italy ended their gay ban, the number of HIV infections from contaminated blood donations has fallen
Related articles:
- Tht Launches New Education Campaign (homovision.tv)
- Commonwealth Rapped for Ignoring Homo-abuse (homovision.tv)
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Tags: gay, Gay Lesbian and Bisexual, HIV, National Blood Service, National Union of Students of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Peter Tatchell, Terrence Higgins Trust
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