the blood donor system brands homosexuals

By Pauline Etienne (Source: l'express)

May 18, 2007: Much remains to be done in Mauritius to ensure equal rights for all citizens. The questionnaire one has to fill before giving one’s blood is an example of discrimination against gays.

Danielle is gay. She did not hesitate to tell it to the person present in the blood donors’ caravan in Port-Louis when she went for blood donation. But how astonished she was when she was told that she could not give her blood because she was homosexual. “They first asked me if I had already been infected with malaria. As I had spent some time in Africa, I told them I had been infected about two years ago and they did not find it a reason for refusing my blood. But when the person asked me if I had had homosexual relations, and when I was honest enough to tell them I was actually gay, the person just told me she could not accept my blood.”

While the world was celebrating the day against homophobia yesterday, there are still examples in Mauritius that show homosexuals continue to be stigmatised. While the Blood Bank keeps on declaring that there is a lack of blood and that the stock should be increased, some voluntary donors are rejected because of their sexual orientation. This is even made formally in the questionnaire to be filled before giving one’s blood which states, “Are you/were you engaged in homosexual activity?”

Danielle is among those who have been victims of the system. Yet, she had absolutely no problem obtaining her donor’s card ten years ago. “But I never had the opportunity for a blood donation before. I was not in the country for a while and when I came back, I had too much work and never found the time to do it. So, when I came across the caravan in Port-Louis, I seized the opportunity.”

The debate is actually not confined to Mauritius. In France, male homosexuals are excluded from blood donation, which caused an outcry in Parliament last year when socialist MP Jack Lang found it to be an “extremely shocking discriminatory measure”. In his reply, the minister of Health, Xavier Bertrand, said, “Epidemiological data show that the prevalence of HIV infection in the male homosexual population is of 12.3% against 0.2% for the general population. It is not a matter of being homosexual but of sexual intercourse between men that constitutes a counter-indication for blood donation. Female homosexuality does not constitute a counter-indication.”

In fact, the debate – in France as in Mauritius – is not about unprotected sexual intercourse but about sexual orientation. Basically, an unprotected relation is dangerous – may it be heterosexual or homosexual. And there should not be any problem with blood donation, as all the blood collected is usually subject to several tests.

The president of the Blood Donors Association (BDA), Subhanand Seegolam, confirms that systematic tests are done for each blood sample collected. However, he explains, "It is not possible to give 100% guarantee as to tests done. There is a very little margin of error and we can’t afford to take any risk." This is how confirms that people who say they have had homosexual intercourse can’t be accepted as blood donors. "The question is part of the questionnaire only to know whether the person has already had homosexual relations. And if the answer is positive, then we try and avoid this type of people," he admits quite naively.

The problem is that there is “no section in the Mauritian Constitution on sexual orientation, so in the absence of an equal opportunities bill, nothing prevents the association from asking this question,” explains lawyer Lovena Sowkhee. But the question is definitely a prejudice to the Human Rights Convention where it is stated that no one can be discriminated because of one’s sexual orientation.

Stigmatisation caused by inner system of the country

Danielle has the feeling that she has been the victim of her honesty. “I wonder why they should ask such a question. If they test the blood in a systematic way, then such questions should not be necessary. I had even come to ask myself if the blood of all the people who are homosexuals but have not told it or the blood of all heterosexuals is being tested regularly,” she says.

Stigmatisation is not only caused by people’s looks on the streets. It is also part of the inner system of the country. Just click on the official website of the government in the Blood Transfusion of the country Service section and you might be quite surprised of what you will see. Under the sub-section “Facts on safe blood”, you will see that one of the ways of making sure “I am a safe donor is because I am not an homosexual”. It is written down in black and white.