Homosexual and other people in the LGBT community have been discriminated for their sexual orientation for centuries. The LGBT+ community has in many countries got it better throughout the years, but even in the most equal countries we yet haven’t reached full equality between heterosexual and homosexual/bisexual people. Such a simple thing as donating blood isn’t even equal for everyone and I’m going to talk about a couple of different countries and their laws when it comes to homosexual and bisexual people and donating blood. At the end of the article, I’m going to let you know what you can do to let your government know that you want to see a change in your country!
Finland allows homosexual and bisexual men to donate blood if they haven’t had any sexual interactions for a year. If a woman has sex with a bisexual man who recently has had sex with another man then the woman isn’t allowed to donate blood for a year either.
As some of you might know I’m a bit political involved and therefore I would like to promote a campaign the Swedish Social Democratic youth group (Swedish: SSU, Sveriges socialdemokratiska ungdomsförbund) is currently running. Their campaign called “Bloody serious” (Swedish: “Blodigt allvar”) is a campaign whose goal is to get the government's attention so they will change the law about blood donation. Homosexual and bisexual men are allowed to donate blood as long as they have had a 1 year deferral period when they are not allowed to have sex with their partner. This basically means that homosexual and bisexual men are not able to donate blood or they are not allowed to have a sex life, that’s a really discriminating law. It’s also a really stupid law since hospitals all over Sweden doesn’t have enough blood to help all of those who would need it!
It takes 6-8 weeks for an HIV test to show if a person is HIV positive or not. Blood is, also, undergoing a lot of tests before being used for transplantation which means the chances that any type of blood disease, such as HIV, would be in the blood they use for transplantation is rather minimalistic. Which means that the most logical thing would be to allow homosexual and bisexual men to donate blood the same as everyone else is allowed to.
If you live in Sweden and want the law in Sweden to change then make sure to sign this petition!
Sweden is a pretty accepting country that wants equality for everyone. However, their view on blood donation doesn’t share the same view on equality for all. In Sweden, it’s allowed for homosexual and bisexual men to donate blood but there is a 1-year deferral period when they are not allowed to have sex. A 1-year deferral period basically doesn’t let a gay couple to be able to donate blood and therefore a lot of people, both LGBT and heterosexual, want to see this rule to be changed.
Norway has the same law as in Sweden; they are allowed to donate blood but they need to have a 1-year deferral period without any sexual interaction with another man. If it’s a woman who has had sex with a bisexual man who recently has had sex with another man then the woman needs to wait 6 months before being able to donate blood.
The United Kingdom allows LGBT people to donate blood but there is a 3 months deferral period they need to pass before being allowed to donate blood.
Poland is considered a pretty conservative country that is promoting a lot of homophobic propaganda throughout the years but when it comes to donating blood they aren’t that strict. In Poland, it’s allowed for everyone to donate blood without any deferral period.
In The Netherlands, it’s allowed for men to donate blood but they need to have a 4 months deferral period when they are not allowed to have sex with another man. People donating blood also need to fill in a list with a few questions about their current state of health and if they use any medication.
In Denmark, everyone is allowed to donate blood however homosexual and bisexual men need to have a 4 months deferral period when they are not allowed to have any sexual interaction with another man. Their law was recently changed, before 2019 no homosexual or bisexual man was allowed to donate blood.
The United States of America have the same kind of law as Sweden and Norway; They are allowed to donate blood, however, there is a 1-year deferral period that they need to pass before being allowed to do it. It doesn’t allow homosexual and bisexual to have a normal love life and be able to donate blood to those in need.