By John Mack Freeman
France is changing its ban on blood donations by men who have sex with men (MSM). Previously, France had a lifetime ban in place for all MSM. Now, France has changed its rules to come in line with recent changes by many other Western countries, allowing blood donation by MSM as long as they have not had sex with another man in the last 12 months. Via AFP:
Anthony Roux, vice-president of SOS Homophobia told The Local the announcement was a “significant step forward” in the battle against homophobia in France.
“This is positive for French society,” he said. “When you have part of the population excluded from being able to fulfill a civic duty like giving blood, then it implies a certain amount of homophobia.”
At first, donation will be open to gay men who had not been sexually active for the preceding 12 months, she specified.
The president of SOS Homophobia said that equality, however, was still a long way off.“SOS Homophobia welcomes the end of this systematic exclusion… but strongly regrets the continued discrimination based on sexual orientation,” Yohann Roszéwitch wrote in a statement.
