Northern Ireland is to lift the lifetime ban on gay men donating blood

The lifetime ban on gay men (or men who have had sex with men) donating blood in Northern Ireland is due to end.

According to RTÉ News, the Health Minister at Stormont Michelle O'Neill announced the decision on a visit to an LGBT organisation in Belfast. In England, Scotland and Wales, a similar ban was lifted back in 2011 and now the UK allows gay men to give blood twelve months after their last sexual encounter with another man. This decision to lift the blood ban is one of the first of Michelle O'Neill's as Health Minister. She took over the role following the assembly elections last week. Substantial new evidence has shown that the risk of contracting HIV is lower with a one-year deferral than it is with a lifetime ban. In Ireland currently, there is still a lifetime ban on MSM (men who have sex with men) on donating blood. There have been campaigns to lift the ban in the Republic. Many countries have even shorter bans in place of just four months. For example, in France both gay and straight men will have to wait four months until they can donate blood if they have changed sexual partners. French Health Minister Marisol Touraine said:

“Giving one’s blood is an act of generosity and of civic responsibility that cannot be conditioned by sexual orientation. While respecting the absolute security of patients, it is a taboo, a discrimination that is being lifted here today.” French politician Jean-Luc Romero-Michel told The New York Times: “What I don’t understand is why we don’t condition blood donation by high-risk behaviour. It isn’t being heterosexual that is a risk. It isn’t being gay that is a risk. It’s behaviours that are risky.”

Here's hoping the Republic will follow suit.