This highly controversial ban is one of the widely discussed topics in the medical field.Ī lot more research is yet to go into this sensitive issue because this ban greatly adds on to the existing homophobia and makes matters worse. Whereas some countries like Italy have no ban because there they screen individuals on the basis of sexual behaviour instead of sexual orientation. Some countries like Taiwan require a gap of 5 years from any sexual contact involving another man. Apart from the USA, 23 other countries enforce the same policy. A lot of people consider this ban as homophobic.ĭifferent countries have different stands on this issue. This restriction is also applied to patients who’ve had injected drugs, sex workers and patients who’ve engaged in sexual activity in areas where the prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis B is the highest. This restriction is only to maximise the safety of the blood collected. This ban cannot be termed as homophobic in nature because this restriction applies to sexual practices and not on one’s sexual orientation.
Rates of blood-borne infections are highest in gay men thus a ban was placed on them. If one goes by stats, gay men make up roughly half of the HIV-infected patients in the USA. In fact, they are more likely to get any transmissible infections. High serum FSH levels in men with nonobstructive azoospermia does not affect success of microdissection testicular sperm extraction. Medical research shows that HIV or Hepatitis B risk in the gay community is higher than the rest of the population due to which they are restricted from donating blood. As per the new rule, men had to have a gap of one year after any sexual contact with another man only then can they be eligible for blood donation.Īlso Read: I Am An Openly Gay Person In Delhi & I Believe Normal Is Boring! Initially, a lifetime ban was placed and no gay man could donate blood. The US law was seen as discriminatory in nature as it placed a ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood. It was only then that this issue got highlighted.
However, after the incident, shocking revelations were made where a lot of bisexual or gay men who wanted to donate blood were refused from doing so. This was known as one of the goriest violence infliction on the LGBTQ community. On June 12, 2016, mass shooting in a gay club in Florida, USA shocked the community worldwide. It is being republished since it still remains an interesting topic till today. Disclaimer: Originally published in December 2018.