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Taiwan to relax laws on gay men donating blood

by Tim GIbson

 

From May, Taiwan is set to lift its ban on gay men donating blood. Currently gay men have a lifetime ban on donating blood on the island nation, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) is set to change that. The new rules would allow gay men to donate blood if they have abstained from anal sex for at least five years. A MOHW spokesperson has stated that the waiting period may be reduced to 12 months at some point in the future.

While this is nonetheless still progress, especially for an Asian country, many LGBT+ activists have criticised the Taiwanese government for not doing enough and imposing unrealistic restrictions on gay and bisexual men. The LGBT organisation, Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association, told Channel News Asia that “five years is really too long and it goes against human nature. You can call a principle fair only when it can be equally applied to homosexuals, heterosexuals and bisexuals.”

Rules against gay men donating blood are a hangover from the AIDS crisis when little was known about how the disease spread and how it could be stopped. In a time with PrEP, lowering HIV rates in gay men, and faster and more reliable testing methods, banning gay men from donating blood no longer makes sense and hurts an already worldwide blood shortage. Taiwan joins Switzerland, Wales, Israel, Scotland, Hong Kong and France who have all recently revised their laws regarding gay men and blood donation.

 

 

 

 

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