About bloody time gay people were allowed to donate blood in Ireland

France has conceded there is no scientific point in the ban of homosexuals giving blood. It is well beyond time that Health Minister Leo Varadkar lifted the stigma hanging over all gay men in this country, writes Shaun Connolly

SO-CALLED jokes of the time went along the lines: They are called “gay” because G-A-Y stands for Got Aids Yet?

It was the type of drive-by hatred common in the mainstream tabloid press in the mid-1980s as the onset of HIV-Aids hysteria and panic fanned the flames of a homophobic culture that had been gradually subsiding to that point.