Blood donation and gay and bisexual men

If the answer is yes, they will need to wait three months to donate blood, but are still eligible to donate plasma. Additional reporting by Lana Lam. Skip to content. Blood donation. Blood donation is now more inclusive for the LGBTQ+ community. Are gay and bisexual men now eligible to donate blood?

However Let Us Give researcher Sharon Dane said while the changes were welcome, they aren't global best practice and could be confusing. With the updated guidelines, most gay and bisexual men who are in a monogamous relationship with a man will no longer have to refrain from sex in order to donate blood.

The changes will begin taking effect from next month. Many are now able to donate blood through a new inclusive screening process that expands blood donor eligibility and eliminates questions based on sexual orientation through updated FDA guidelines issued in May On May 11, the Food and Drug Administration officially changed its policy allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood as long as they have been monogamous for the previous three months.

Under the FDA’s individual donor assessment guidance, there are no eligibility criteria related to men who have sex with men. Previously, any men or transgender women who had sex with men in the previous three months were banned from donating blood or plasma, as were sex workers and women who have sex with bisexual men.

Under the new rules, Lifeblood will no longer ask men if they had sex with men in the previous three months. Plasma in particular goes through a process called pathogen inactivation, which filters out viruses and bacteria, significantly reduces the risk of an infection being passed on to a patient.

Global demand for plasma is already at an all-time high and is still rising, including in Australia, so Lifeblood hopes the changes will provide a much-need boost to supplies. Now, most people in a sexual relationship of six months or more with a single partner will be eligible to donate blood, regardless of their gender or sexuality.

The new rules have been approved by the country's health products regulator, and are estimated to expand the donation pool by , people. Instead, all donors will be asked if they have had anal sex with new or multiple partners. People taking HIV prevention drug PrEP will also be able to donate plasma, though they are still blocked from donating blood.

Share Save. The plasma donation rules will come into effect on 14 July, with the updated approach to blood donations to be implemented sometime in Research conducted by Lifeblood, with the University of New South Wales' Kirby Institute, showed that rule changes would not have any impact to the safety of blood and plasma supply.

Rules that effectively banned all sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating blood and plasma are being lifted in Australia. The rules, originally introduced to decrease the risk of blood donations from groups with a higher chance of HIV exposure, will begin being revoked from next month, following similar moves in the UK and US.

However, under the changes, Australia will become the first country in the world to remove all sexual activity-based restrictions on plasma donation, the national blood donation service Lifeblood says. Australia lifts blood, plasma donation ban for gay men. Getty Images.