The current restrictions on blood donations for homosexual men are to be lifted. Minister of Health Lauterbach wants to change the transfusion law so that sexual orientation can no longer exclude people from donating blood.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) wants to end discrimination against homosexual men when donating blood. With the planned change in the law, Lauterbach wants to oblige the German Medical Association to adjust its blood donation guidelines accordingly within four months and to allow homosexual men as blood donors, the minister announced in the editorial network Germany (Tuesday editions).
“Whether someone can become a blood donor is a question of risky behavior, not of sexual orientation,” Lauterbach told the newspapers. “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.
Sexual orientation should no longer be an exclusion criterion for blood donations
Lauterbach’s amendment to the transfusion law, which is available to the RND newspapers, now says: “Sexual orientation and gender identity must not be exclusion or deferral criteria.”
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, the four-month ban only applies to “frequently changing partners”. The guideline was last relaxed slightly in 2021 – before that, the deadline was twelve months.
According to the RND, the draft amendment now stipulates that the sexual risk that leads to an exclusion or a deferral from 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.”
Source: Stern
