LGBTQI advocacy group, just.equal, has written to all Australian federal, state and territory health ministers asking them to support a complete removal of the celibacy requirement for LGBTQI men who want to give blood. Despite the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) announcing its approval to reduce the blood donation deferral period for men who have sex with men to three months, LGBTQI health advocates believe that a complete removal is the only reasonable step forward.
Until now men who have had sex with men in the past 12 months cannot give blood due to risk of potential HIV transmission, which advocates claim to be discriminatory, scientifically inaccurate and counterproductive for the current health climate.
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