Britain has lifted a years-long partial ban on blood donations for gay and bisexual men. In a press release issued on 14 December, the Department of Health and Social Care announced that all men who have sex with men and are in a long-term monogamous relationship or have been with their sexual partner for more than three months will be allowed to donate blood from summer 2021.

In doing so, the ministry took into account all the recommendations of the steering group “For Assessment of Individualised Risk”, or FAIR for short. The association of British blood donation services and LGBTIQ* organisations, founded in 2019, had drafted the changes based on the latest findings regarding blood donation and sexual health and submitted them to the authorities.

Individual behaviour instead of blanket assumptions

The new donor health screening criteria are designed to be gender-neutral and focus much more on individual behaviour rather than blanket assumptions.

The 2017 guideline had still excluded all men who have sex with men from donating blood unless they were willing to abstain from oral and anal sex for three months – including married queer men and those in monogamous relationships.

However, since heterosexual men and women can also be potential carriers of infections, the new rules will allow anyone who has had the same sexual partner in the last 3 months to donate – regardless of the sex or gender identity of the donor and regardless of the sex or gender identity of the partner. In addition, there will no longer be a request to disclose sexual orientation. Men will therefore no longer be forced to state beforehand whether they have had sex with another man.

Under the new selection process, all donors will undergo the same health check, regardless of gender or sexuality. A modified donor health screening questionnaire will help assess potential risks on an individual basis.

However, there will still be some restrictions in the future. For example, donors who have had more than one sexual partner or a new partner in the last three months will only be allowed to donate blood if anal sex was not involved. The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO), an expert committee of the Department of Health and Social Care, still considers anal sex to be a “high-risk sexual behaviour”. Drug use during sex was also classified as risky behaviour. Chemsex is thus considered a criterion for exclusion.

In addition, people who take the HIV-preventive antiviral medication PrEP or the post-exposure prophylaxis PEP continue to be excluded from donating blood.

Era of general suspicion comes to an end

Ethan Spibey, founder of FreedomToDonate, welcomed the new ruling. For six years, FreedomToDonate had fought to lift restrictions on men who have sex with men (MSM). “Just being a man who has sex with men is not a reason to exclude someone from donating blood,” Spibey said. That is why he is “extremely proud that more people than ever before can now give this life-saving gift”.

The policy of general suspicion, dating back to the early years of the HIV crisis, is no longer appropriate. In the USA, the criteria for blood donation were already relaxed in the spring, and Brazil, Hungary and Canada have also revised their regulations. Now Great Britain is also taking this important step and evaluating individuals for their actions rather than their sexual preferences.

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