south africa eases ban on gay blood donors

By 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

October 2, 2006:  Threatened with a human rights lawsuit South Africa's National Blood Service will allow gay men who have been celibate for six months to donate blood.

The change will take effect on November 1.

The SANBS followed most other countries at the height of the AIDS crisis in barring gay men from becoming donors.

The blood service called the change a streamlining of its questionnaire for prospective donors.

Last January the Gay and Lesbian Alliance demonstrated against the ban at blood donor clinics across the country.

Another LGBT organization, the South African Gay and Lesbian Rights Advocacy Group, said that ban on gays is discriminatory and threatened to take the blood service to court.

The group's spokesperson, Dawie Nel, said at the time the ban contravened South Africa's Constitution which enshrines equal rights for gays and lesbians.

"I understand that the blood transfusion service needs some sort of social indicator to derive the safety of blood but the use of gay in a blanket way indicates this is not fair," Nel told SABC radio at the time.

Nel said the question should not be whether you have had sex with another man but that all blood donors should be asked if they use a condom while having sex.

A third organization also blasted the service in January saying that people were jumping to conclusions when they call gay men a risk group.

"South Africa does not have valid information on the HIV-infection rate in the gay community," said Triangle Project spokesperson Glen de Swardt.

"People point fingers at gays as a high-risk HIV-Aids group when it suits them."

In January the South African National Blood Service said the ban was justified. Following the protests, and the possibility it might have to defend itself in court the service quietly began to reexamine its position.

South Africa has an estimated 5.5 million people infected with HIV, only a fraction of those are gay.  The blood service has never banned other groups from donating blood.