Students want ban on gay blood donors revoked

GAY students have called on the Irish Blood Transfusion Service to reverse its ban on donations from homosexual men.

The blood bank does not accept blood from men if they have ever had sex with another man, even if protection was used.

The IBTS policy has been in place since the emergence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and particularly among gay men, in the early 1980s.

But the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) Society at UCC said that this policy is antiquated, because gay men are no longer the group at highest risk from HIV infection.

Tony Murphy, a gay student and an officer of the LGB society, said it isinsulting because the blood donor policy suggests he is not as trustworthy as a straight person.

“It supposes that I am not as good or as healthy, and that I’m regarded as having a disease. I would like to donate blood because I’ve had family members who’ve been very ill before and they needed blood,” he said.

LGB society auditor, Liz, said they expect at least 3,000 students of all sexual orientations to sign a petition against the policy during an IBTS clinic at UCC until Wednesday.

“We want people to continue donating blood but we are also seeking an end to discrimination which is based on outdated statistics,” she said.

UCC students union welfare officer Jack Mulcahy said there would be uproar if there was a blanket ban on heterosexual women giving blood. He said the best policy would be to have sexual activity rather than orientation used to assess donation criteria.

Even though all blood donations are tested for HIV and other infections, IBTS medical director Dr William Murphy said they reluctantly keep the ban on gay men becoming donors.

“Although there is a growth in the heterosexual spread of HIV, history has shown new viruses spread most quickly among gay men. There is also a 10-day period after HIV infection in which testing is not effective,” he said.

“We fully accept that this policy is discriminatory and unfair, but our main priority is to give safe blood to recipients. Chemicals are being developed to eradicate infections from blood products and if they become available I will be the first to argue for changing the policy,” said Dr Murphy.

A spokesperson for the Equality Authority said last night that they have had a number of queries on the issue, but no cases have been decided by the Equality Tribunal.

Blood stocks are currently almost 900 units short of the 3,000 minimum needed every week to supply the country’s hospitals.

Dr Murphy urged donors to attend clinics in the coming two months because supplies often drop off around Christmas.