Kristian Zorino is a young, fit, healthy man with no interest in drugs.
He has been in a monogamous relationship for four years, and both Kristian and his partner have had comprehensive sexual health checks.
Kristian is a registered organ donor. Why would Australia want Kristian’s organs, but refuse to take his blood? Simple. Kristian is gay.
Before donating blood, prospective donors must fill in a questionnaire. Donors are asked mildly invasive questions to protect the blood supply. The questionnaire identifies “risk populations” and people who engage in “risky” behaviour – people who have used needle drugs, people who have paid for sex and men who have had sex with men – and prevent them them from giving blood.
This is done with good intentions: the Blood Service has a duty to protect the blood supply, but a blanket ban preventing all gay men from donating blood is archaic.
If an Australian man has engaged in male-to-male sexual activity, with or without a condom, in the 12 months prior to presenting to give blood, he will not be able to give blood. Even if this sexual contact is with just one man, the same man the potential donor has been with for a number of years, and both men have had comprehensive sexual health checks.
During the 1980s, the Aids epidemic was tearing through the international gay community. The Australian Blood Service banned all gay men from donating blood to ensure potentially contaminated blood did not make it into the veins of sick Australians.
At the time it was a wise move. La Trobe University professor Gary Dowsett said Australia’s blood donation policy was introduced before testing for HIV was “really” possible.
More than 30 years have passed since the peak of the Aids epidemic and individual sexual health and testing for Aids has improved dramatically in that time. A routine HIV test takes just four to six weeks for a result to show up.
Other countries have very recently updated their blood donation policy to reflect these positive changes. In September this year, Argentina lifted a ban that prevented gay and bisexual men from donating blood.
Just a few weeks ago, France removed a lifetime ban. Previous to this development, Frenchmen who had ever had sex with another man were banned from donating.
Despite a progressive prime minister, Canadian gay men cannot donate blood unless they have been celibate for five years.
In Italy, gay and bisexual men can donate blood if they meet other conditions of donation. Prospective donors are judged on a case-by-case basis, on individual risk, not sexuality. Chile, Mexico and Spain have similar policies.
Individual risk assessment makes sense – straight people can engage in incredibly risky sexual behaviour and gay men can be careful. Sexuality does not define the choices people make.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) manages the conditions of blood donation, not the Australian Red Cross.
In 2011, the Blood Service formed a committee to examine scientific research relating to donor deferrals based on sexual activity. The committee recommended that men should be eligible to donate blood six months after sexual contact with another man.
In the middle of 2013, the Blood Service formally applied to relax the deferral period from 12 months to six months. The application was denied and the TGA said this change “could increase the risk of an infection being passed on to a blood recipient with no significant boost to donor numbers, or to the blood supply”.
No significant boost to donor numbers?
How about allowing gay men in monogamous, long-term relationships to donate blood? Or adopting an individualised risk assessment policy? Surely that will have a positive effect on donor numbers.
In January 2014, Blood Service chief executive Jennifer Williams said the Blood Service accepted the TGA’s decision but was “disappointed”.
Victorian Aids Council (VAC) CEO Simon Ruth said blood donation is safe for gay men in monogamous long-term relationships if both men have been tested for STDs and practice safe sex.
VAC supports reducing the deferral period from 12 to six months for homosexually active men. The same recommendations the TGA rejected.
Greens Senator Robert Simms also supports reducing the deferral period from 12 months to six and said there is a subgroup of men who have sex with men at low risk of infection, such as those in monogamous relationships.
In October, Simms wrote to human rights commissioner Tim Wilson, asking for the current “discriminatory” Blood Service policy to be revisited. Australia needs more blood. Lowering the current deferral period or introducing individualised risk assessment will save lives.
Gay men who have had comprehensive sexual health checks and are currently in monogamous long-term relationships pose no threat to the blood supply and should be able to donate blood.
Both Russell and Kristian believe the current policy is too limiting. They support lowering the current deferral period from 12 to six months, and believe those in monogamous relationships should be able to donate. Russell admits the current policy makes him feel “dirty”.
