Canadian Blood Services apologizes to LGBTQ2S+ community for discriminatory blood donation policy

Canadian Blood Services issued an apology on Friday to the LGBTQ2S+ community for what it now admits was a harmful and discriminatory blood donation policy that prevented sexually active men who have sex with men and some trans people from donating blood and plasma.

“The policy was put in place with the intent to protect patient safety after the Canadian blood system crisis of the 1980s. We regret that for many years the former policy also contributed to discrimination, homophobia, transphobia, and HIV stigma within society,” Canadian Blood Services CEO Dr. Graham Sher said.

Speaking to a room of community members and allies, Sher acknowledged that while the regret expressed does not erase the harm done, the apology was a long time coming and necessary for the organization to be able to continue to build trust with LGBTQ2S+ communities.

“Canadian Blood Services apologizes to gay, bi and queer men, trans people, and queer people more broadly, for the impact of the former deferral policy. We acknowledge how this policy reinforced the harmful public perception that someone’s blood is somehow less safe because of their sexual orientation. Canadian Blood Services also apologizes to our employees past and present, who over the years may have had to explain or defend the policy,” Sher said.

LGBTQ2S+ representatives were then given the opportunity to take the stage and share their experiences with how the policy impacted them, expressing gratitude for the historic recognition that for decades the ban perpetuated negative stereotypes.

In 2022, Canadian Blood Services eliminated the three-month donor deferral period for gay and bisexual men as well as some others in the LGBTQ2S+ community, following Health Canada approval and years of pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make good on his 2015 election pledge to eradicate what he considered a “wrong” policy that ignored “scientific evidence.” 

Moving away from what started as a lifetime blanket ban, the national blood donor organization now screens all blood and plasma donors based on higher risk sexual behaviours, regardless of gender or sexuality. This policy change was a hard and long-fought effort, backed by research, and led by LGBTQ2S+ Canadians.

This week, mirroring the new approach for blood donation screening, Health Canada replaced sperm and ova donor restrictions targeting sexually active gay and bisexual men, as well as their partners, with a new gender-neutral, behaviour-based screening questionnaire.

Though, with these screening processes still disqualifying certain donors on the basis of sexual activity and sexual orientation – specifically if they have recently engaged in anal sex in the context of new or multiple sexual partners within the last few months – advocates have cautioned that the new approach can still indirectly discriminate in an unscientific manner.

Noting this, Sher thanked those continuing to push for improvements to maximize donor inclusion, and vowed Friday to continue to engage and act on feedback from medical experts and the LGBTQ2S+ community.

This week, marking the latest evolution of national donation policies targeting men who have sex with men – stemming from historical concerns over HIV transmission – Health Canada signalled that reforms may be coming to this country’s continued restrictions on cell, tissue and organ donation.

Questions over the blood and sperm policies, and whether the federal government has discriminated against LGBTQ2s+ donors by upholding them, continue to play out in the courts and at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

More to come…