Today the Young Liberals of Canada (YLC) launched a nationwide petition drive calling for an end to the discriminatory practice of banning sexually active gay men from donating blood.
"With so many lives at stake, Canada’s health policy should be based on evidence—not a discriminatory outlook on sexual orientation," said Justin Kaiser, President of the Young Liberals of Canada. "Expecting a particular group of Canadians to be abstinent for 5 years years before allowing them to help save lives is a dangerous, backward and stigmatizing policy. The gay blood ban ignores scientific evidence, and it needs to end."
Canadian Blood Services & Héma-Québec currently ban gay men who have been sexually active at any point in the previous five years from donating blood, even when sex is safe and monogamous.
The Young Liberals of Canada support the replacement of the current policy with a framework of behaviour-based screening for every blood or organ donor regardless of sexual orientation, providing an evidence-based method of ensuring that all donors are safe and eligible. Similar methods exist in Mexico, Spain, Italy, Chile and Portugal with fully successful results. Regardless of source, all donated blood is already comprehensively tested for infectious diseases.
"More than half of all Canadians have a family member who has needed blood for medical treatments, and any unnecessary, discriminatory limits on gay men donating blood puts Canadian lives at stake," said Jonathan Crombie, VP Policy for the Young Liberals of Canada. "When a loved one is facing trauma, no one cares whether it’s straight blood or gay blood. Canadians just want safe blood, and it’s in all of us to give."
The Young Liberals of Canada have represented youth across the country since the 1930s and helped achieve some of the most progressive policy advances in Canadian history, including pushing Prime Minister Paul Martin to pass equal marriage legislation. Canadians can learn more, get involved, and sign the petition at ylc-jlc.liberal.ca/all-of-us
