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Blood donation
The lifetime ban on blood donation by men who've had sex with men (MSM) is lifted today, though a 12-month deferral period remains. The National Blood Service Donor Health Check online questionnaire has been edited to reflect this.
What they HAVEN'T done is edited it to take into account the bit where it's obviously silly for a woman not to be able to donate blood because she's having sex with an MSM who can (the questionnaire still asks if you are a woman who has in the past 12 months had sex with a man who has ever had sex with another man, and tells you you're ineligible to donate if the answer's "yes").
However, I've just got off the phone with the Blood Service and they confirm that in the situation I describe - a woman having sex with an MSM who is eligible to donate blood - the woman *is also* eligible to donate.
Y'know, just in case this is useful to anyone else. :-)
Yes, I know the social implications of the 12-month deferral are problematic. I'm also painfully aware that I've been using binary-gendered language throughout this post - for which I'm sorry, but the NBS unfortunately does not seem to be entirely competent at trans* people.
What they HAVEN'T done is edited it to take into account the bit where it's obviously silly for a woman not to be able to donate blood because she's having sex with an MSM who can (the questionnaire still asks if you are a woman who has in the past 12 months had sex with a man who has ever had sex with another man, and tells you you're ineligible to donate if the answer's "yes").
However, I've just got off the phone with the Blood Service and they confirm that in the situation I describe - a woman having sex with an MSM who is eligible to donate blood - the woman *is also* eligible to donate.
Y'know, just in case this is useful to anyone else. :-)
Yes, I know the social implications of the 12-month deferral are problematic. I'm also painfully aware that I've been using binary-gendered language throughout this post - for which I'm sorry, but the NBS unfortunately does not seem to be entirely competent at trans* people.