Gay men donated blood for the first time in their lives on Sunday, when Quebec became the latest Canadian province to end the ban on them.
• Also read: Gay men can finally donate blood
With Héma-Québec’s new “more inclusive” approach, men who have had sex with another man in the past three months will no longer be denied the opportunity to donate blood.
All donors answer the same questionnaire to assess their suitability, regardless of gender identity or sexuality. Rather, it is potentially risky sexual behavior that can disqualify.
” Finally “
” Finally ! “In short, François Leclerc met at the Globule center in Sainte-Foy when he had just made his first lifelong blood donation.
“I’ve always felt rejected or excluded because I couldn’t do it,” said the 50-year-old, who had wanted to donate for a long time.
” But why not ? I am [dans une relation] stable, I’m not at risk, it’s been 29 years [qu’on est en couple], so let’s see! Like another couple elsewhere,” he continues.
Her spouse, Tony Bouffard, would also have liked to donate, but an administrative complication prevented him from doing so. He will come back as soon as possible.
“Our message is [que] if the others want to come, they should not hinder themselves, they should not be afraid. We have been made extremely welcome here,” says the retired nurse.
proof
Canadian Blood Services, which offers blood products in other provinces, took the same approach last September.
According to Héma-Québec spokesman Laurent-Paul Ménard, it is a desire to go step by step and examine the evidence that explains the view of Quebec, where only plasma donations have been beneficial since October.
“This is a big step forward and we are very happy. Will it affect the number of donors? We hope so, but based on other experiences this is not necessarily the case. Maybe Quebec will be an exception,” he says, referring to the UK.
Well preserved
Remember that Health Canada gave the green light to Héma-Québec last September. The regulator noted that from 2013 to 2019, homosexual “abstinence” was reduced from “lifetime” to three months without compromising the safety of blood donation.
“In our opinion, this should have been done a few years ago. It is important to individualize the risk. Stigmatizing a community by implying irresponsible sexual behavior was discrimination,” commented Dave Tremblay, president of Quebec-based Alliance Arc-en-ciel.
Héma-Québec requires 1,000 donations each day to meet the blood product needs of Quebec’s population.
The new approach in brief
- The same questionnaire is presented to the donor regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation
- The risk assessment is done on an individual basis and not on the basis of belonging to a group that is considered to be at risk
- A sexually active person can donate if they have been in a monogamous relationship for more than three months or, if they have one or more new partners, have not had anal sex in the last three months
- The changes were approved by Health Canada in September
Sources: Héma-Québec and Health Canada
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