NUS sees red

Students from across the UK joined forces to protest against the nationwide ban on blood donation by gay and bisexual men.

Organised by the National Union of Students (NUS) and supported by organisations like Stonewall and Unison LGBT, as well as the national Aids trust, the protest saw over 100 students clad in red picket and present petitions to a meeting of the advisory committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO), the group who advise the National Blood Service (NBS) on their policies relating to who is allowed to give blood.

The lifetime ban for any male who has ever had oral or anal sex with another man with or without a condom dates from 1985 and aims to minimise the risk of HIV transmission through infected blood donations. Gay men are one of a number of groups restricted from giving blood including those who have had sex with prostitutes and those who have had unprotected sex in areas where there is a high risk of HIV (like sub-Saharan Africa). It is common for people in these categories to be forced to wait 12 months before giving blood, however gay and bisexual men are one of the few groups subject to a lifetime ban.

The NBS states on their website: “as a group, gay men have a far higher chance of carrying HIV than the heterosexual population” by way of justifying the ban.

However the NUS say the ban is discriminatory, contradicts governmental messages on safe sex, is based on incomplete and flawed research and perpetuates the myth that Aids is a “gay disease.”

The Donation not Discrimination campaign calls for an “end to the blanket ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood” or, if the ban cannot be immediately repealed, for a public and transparent review that involves members of the LGBT community to be conducted of the most up to date and complete evidence available.

NUS LGBT Officer Claire Anderson said: “This policy is really frustrating because lots of healthy gay and bisexual students want to give blood but can’t because of the ban. It’s not someone’s sexual identity that makes them high risk, but their sexual practices. Heterosexual people who engage in high-risk behaviour are not banned, but deferred for a limited time; a blanket ban perpetuates the myth that HIV/ Aids is a gay disease, and does not treat donors equally and on the basis of actual risk.

“That’s why we are […] encouraging our friends to donate in our place and talking to donors to raise awareness of the policy. Most people we have spoken to are really surprised that this kind of ban is still in place. We are calling for equal treatment for donors regardless of sexuality.”

The protest took place on October 27 at the Royal Horticultural Halls Conference Centre in London.