FINALLY: Australia’s Ban On Gay, Bi+ & Trans Blood Donation Is Being Scrapped
Image: Image- Australian Red Cross
After many years of campaigning, the ban on blood donation from sexually active gay and Bi+ men, trans women and other AMAB gender-diverse people, in Australia are set to change.
Lifeblood, formerly Red Cross Australia, have today announced changes to rules around donation.
The historic changes will see the removal of a waiting period for gay, bisexual men and trans women who are sexually active to donate blood.
Research from the Kirby Institute estimates around 626,500 people will now be newly eligible to donate plasma.
Australia to lift blood ban rules for gay & bi men, trans women
Lifeblood have announced that from July 14 this year they will lift the sexual activity rule — this prohibited gay and bisexual men and transgender women from being able to donate plasma if they had been sexually active with men in the last three months.
LGBTQIA+ advocacy groups have been campaigning for the removal of the ban for many years, as it stigmatises HIV-positive people and the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole. Public support for the ban had long since evaporated.
In 2023 the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) supported a submission from Australian Red Cross Lifeblood that would remove all questions relating to sexual activity from the plasma donor questionnaire.
Australia follows New Zealand’s lead
Earlier this year, Medsafe in New Zealand confirmed their decision to change the way blood and plasma donors are assessed there, prompting calls for Australia to follow suit.
In Australia, the Let Us Give campaign praised the changes in New Zealand and continued to call for Australia to reconsider their gay blood ban rules on donations.
“We urge Australia’s blood authorities to follow New Zealand’s lead as quickly as possible, or risk being seen to maintain a blood collection system that is archaic, inefficient, discriminatory and out-of-step” said Rodney Croome, spokesperson for Let Us Give, at the time.
Praise for the decision for inclusivity in blood donation
Dr Jo Pink, the Chief Medical Officer of Lifeblood praised the move citing the potential for thousands more donations to be received in the future.
“We now anticipate an extra 24,000 donors and 95,000 extra donations of plasma to be made each year.”
“We know the current donation rules have been very difficult for many people in the LGBTQIA+ community,” she said.
The removal of questions based on gender used when screening potential blood and platelet donors are set to be removed in 2026 when they launch their new questionnaires, providing a set of questions that neutral irrespective of gender or sexuality.
Changes to the question will allow monogamous gay men as questions will switch from asking men if they have had sex with men in the three months prior and will instead simply ask all participants if they have engaged in anal sex with any new partners in the previous three months.
People taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) will not be eligible to donate plasma, however not blood.
Alex Greenwich, Member for Sydney, who has long advocated for the change welcomed the news today.
“About bloody time! Gay and Bisexual men have some of this highest levels of sexual health practice and literacy, and I look forward to joining gay and bisexual men across Sydney and Australia in donating blood.”
Let Us Give spokesperson, Rodney Croome, said,
“We thank the TGA and Lifeblood for removing a ban that limited the supply of safe whole blood and stigmatised gay men, and bisexual men and trans women who have sex with men, as a threat to public health.”
“The overseas experience shows that asking all donors the same gender-neutral questions is win/win because it does not increase disease risk, opens up a vital new source of safe blood and makes the blood supply less discriminatory.”
“I take my hat off to all those LGBTIQA+ people and our allies who have worked so hard for decades to remove the discriminatory gay blood ban and achieve a gender-neutral blood donation policy. Australian lives will be saved by of this overdue and important decision.”
Let Us Give researcher, Dr Sharon Dane, said the TGA’s decision is “welcome news.”
“It appears Lifeblood and the TGA are taking a more conservative approach to whole blood donation, relative to other countries like the UK, Canada and the US [which] only require three months of a monogamous relationship if engaging in anal sex, instead of the six months proposed by Lifeblood.”
“Nonetheless, this is a big step forward and we hope that after a short period of assessment, Australia’s whole blood donor policy will change to be in keeping with best-practice nations.”
Croome and Dane also welcomed Lifeblood’s announcement that it will begin collecting blood plasma from gay and bisexual men and trans women who have sex with men, from July 14.
“Lifeblood’s new rules for plasma donation will mean a greater number of people are able to donate, including gay and bisexual men on PrEP. This is a world-class reform for which Lifeblood deserves applause.”
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