World’s First Blood Bank For Gay And Bisexual Men To Donate Blood Expected To Launch Next Month
Later this month the world’s first blood bank for gay and bisexual men to donate blood will be launched by FreedomToDonate and UNILAD. The ‘Illegal Blood Bank’ opens in protest to the current law that bans gay and bisexual men from donating blood unless they abstain from sex for three months, ‘Metro’ reports.
The article writes: “On Saturday 23 November, the Illegal Blood Bank will launch in a secret London location and aims to highlight how alternative methods for assessing donor eligibility can help to identify new, safe, and eligible donors to meet the NHS demand.”
“Potential donors who […] regularly test for STIs and blood-borne viruses could be eligible to donate based on their individual behaviour rather than categorising them as a homogeneous group,’ reads the campaign statement.
“Assessing individual factors in a risk-based approach whilst ensuring the safety of any blood that is donated could help ensure all people who can safely donate blood are able to. Our position is simple – anyone who can safely donate blood should be able to,’ says Ethan Spibey, founder of FreedomToDonate.
In the past five years, there has been a 25% drop in men donating blood and a 6% drop in women. The NHS requires 135,000 new donors each year to replace those who stop donating.
59,000 people have already signed FreedomToDonate’s petition.
Read related myGwork articles here:
Canada Reduces Waiting Time for Blood Donations from Gay and Bisexual Men
Denmark to Allow Gay Men to Donate Blood After Four Month Waiting Period
Gay man’s tissue donation refused because of his sexual orientation
Taiwan to relax laws on gay men donating blood
Israel to allow gay and bisexual men to donate blood
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