UK Lifts Ban on Gay Men Donating Blood

The United Kingdom seems to think they just got themselves some bragging rights over the United States when it comes to their tolerance for the LGBT community. Their Ministry of Health has just released their decision to lift the ban on gay male blood donors. The only requirement to be approved? Don't have sex for ten years.

Sabto, the advisory committee on the safety of blood, tissues and organs, found that if you restricted gay men from donating blood within five years of their last same-sex intercourse, it decreases the possibility of someone being infected with HIV through blood transfusion by 15%. The Ministry thought, “Hey, what the hell? Up it to ten, and we'll be 30% safer than none at all.”

Yeah, that's so much better than an outright ban. But hey, what better way to give of yourself to others than to remain celibate for an entire decade to be allowed to donate a little of your potentially life-saving blood?

We expect next they'll be giving LGBT folks their own water fountains to drink from. Wouldn't want them to get the AIDS on the kids, you know.

Around seven per cent of sexually active gay men are thought to give blood despite the ban, according to UK news reports.