Historic new rules allow more gay and bisexual men to donate blood
Cher_Alumni
Scope alumni Posts: 5,714 Championing
You might not have seen but, as of World Blood Donor Day (16 June 2021), a landmark ruling came into force allowing more gay and bisexual men to donate blood in England, Scotland and Wales
.... based on individual circumstances surrounding health, travel and sexual behaviours evidenced to be at a higher risk of sexual infection.
Donors will no longer be asked if they are a man who has had sex with another man, removing the element of assessment that is based on the previous population-based risks.
Instead, any individual who attends to give blood - regardless of gender - will be asked if they have had sex and, if so, about recent sexual behaviours. Anyone who has had the same sexual partner for the last three months will be eligible to donate.
Donors will no longer be asked if they are a man who has had sex with another man, removing the element of assessment that is based on the previous population-based risks.
Instead, any individual who attends to give blood - regardless of gender - will be asked if they have had sex and, if so, about recent sexual behaviours. Anyone who has had the same sexual partner for the last three months will be eligible to donate.
Whilst, Robbie de Santos, Director of Communications and External Affairs for Stonewall, welcomed the move saying:
... [it] represents an important step towards a donation selection policy entirely based on an individualised assessment of risk. We want to see a blood donation system that allows the greatest number of people to donate safely and we will continue to work with Government to build on this progress and ensure that more people, including LGBT+ people, can donate blood safely in the future.”
Over to you
- What are your thoughts on the new ruling?
- Do you think it was an overdue shift in practice?
- What other steps would you welcome towards LGBTQ+ equality?
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Comments
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I dont know why they couldn't give blood before all blood is tested now for disease and things it must be more difficult now with the corona virus to give blood0
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I didn't expect there were such rules in UK . At Greece they never asked us about our sexuality .1
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<moderator removed - offensive content> It's political correctness gone mad.Instead, any individual who attends to give blood - regardless of gender - will be asked if they have had sex and, if so, about recent sexual behaviours.That's assuming that you trust that people will honestly disclose their sexual history and not lie to avoid perpetuating negative sexuality stereotypes, negative media narratives so they can appear politically correct.People lie about how many sexual partners they've had in their entire life, and their recent sexual history within the past 6-12 months. A sensitive question like that is exactly the sort of thing people lie about. People even lie about whether they are monogamous or polyamorous.It's called the "social desirability bias". People DO lie on surveys to choose the option that's considered more socially acceptable or politically correct. People are not 100% honest when filling out self reporting surveys so you have to account for this to prevent receiving skewed statistics. Negative filters and demographic profiling have to be applied to raw data to make the results weighed. The raw data also should be examined for each demographic, not just as a whole.It's just like how in the 2021 census how for the "what sex are you" question transgender people would answer with the question with the gender they present as instead of the sex assigned at birth, which would skew the results. Stonewall campaigned for the sex question to be removed and replaced with gender identity, and feminist charity Fair Play To Women successfully campaigned to keep the sex question. It's also just like how okcupid found that the percentage of people who claimed that they are open to dating outside their race is gradually increasing every year, but the statistics from behavioural data from their dating website showed that the actual percentage based on analysing human interaction has remained the same and hasn't changed.
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innocent21 said:This is absolutely crazy as gay men have much more sexual partners than straight men and straight and lesbian women. It's political correctness gone mad.And your references are?That's assuming that you trust that people will honestly disclose their sexual history and not lie to avoid perpetuating negative sexuality stereotypes, negative media narratives so they can appear politically correct.Hmmm what is 'politically correct' in mentioning your sexual orientation?People lie about how many sexual partners they've had in their entire life, and their recent sexual history within the past 6-12 months. A sensitive question like that is exactly the sort of thing people lie about. People even lie about whether they are monogamous or polyamorous.Any study will be liable to bias, unless a control study is done. Questionnaires can elucidate whether a person is likely being economical with the truth, so perhaps that's a way forward.It's just like how in the 2021 census how for the "what sex are you" question transgender people would answer with the question with the gender they present as instead of the sex assigned at birth, which would skew the results. Stonewall campaigned for the sex question to be removed and replaced with gender identity, and feminist charity Fair Play To Women successfully campaigned to keep the sex question. It's also just like how okcupid found that the percentage of people who claimed that they are open to dating outside their race is gradually increasing every year, but the statistics from behavioural data from their dating website showed that the actual percentage based on analysing human interaction has remained the same and hasn't changed.This seems a little muddled.,"Why wouldn't transgender people identify as to the sex they identify with rather than with the sex they were born with?. And the relevance to 'dating outside your race''?Perhaps you could give a link to this too. Perhaps some medical statistics rather than from dating websites, etc.
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@innocent21 Your comment that:This is absolutely crazy as gay men have much more sexual partners than straight men and straight and lesbian women.is opinion presented as fact, and perpetuates outdated homophobic stereotypes based on no credible evidence.
The online community will not tolerate prejudicial remarks being made against any demographic and is an inclusive space for all minority groups, such as disabled and LGTBQ+ groups, who have faced historic and ongoing stigmatisation.
As such, I'd like to refer you to the house rules around content that is/is not allowed on the community and ask you to consider the validity of your remarks before posting.6 -
It's about bloody time!1
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Agree that it's about time. I've many LGBTQ+ friends and family and I don't see why they weren't allowed to give blood after proper screening for EVERYONE was in place.
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Here here…I agree it’s about time. Besides sexuality shouldn’t come into it and I really do hate these homophobic stereotypes.1
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