The Australian Labor Party has passed a motion recognising the need to end the gay blood ban and adopt individual risk assessments for blood donations.
The motion effectively confirms that dropping the blood ban is on Labor’s radar of issues to solve but does not provide a timeline or even a commitment to do so.
The motion was passed during the party’s national conference in Brisbane after delegates supported the inclusion of the motion to the national platform.
The motion called on the Albanese Labor government to “continue working with the TGA, the Australian Red Cross, community-based HIV/AIDS groups and others towards lifting the categorical ban on blood donation and unscientific deferral periods by gay men, bisexual men and transgender women who have sex with men, and sex workers.”
The move was welcomed by blood campaigners.
Rodney Croome, a spokesperson for Let Us Give, an organisation campaigning to overturn the ban, said it was an important step towards non-discrimination.
“Ending the gay blood ban and adopting individual risk assessment will mean there is more safe blood for those in need and will make the blood supply less discriminatory,” Croome said.
If gay men, bisexual men and transgender women who have sex with men wish to donate blood, there is currently a three-month sexual abstinence period.
Croome said already the UK, the United States, the Netherlands and many other countries had already made changes to end bans.
“We will now begin lobbying Labor Government members in earnest asking them to ensure Australia drops the gay blood ban as quickly as possible.”
Recently, Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration lifted a four-decade-old ban on blood plasma donations. While the TGA has lifted the ban, it still requires government approval. There is no timeline as yet on when the government will work to drop the gay blood ban.
Plasma is often called the “golden” part of blood but the need for it in Australia is at a record high due to a growing number of patients who rely on the donations for treatment of cancer, haemophilia and more.
The push to drop the plasma ban came after a submission by Lifeblood to allow men who have sex with men to donate plasma, regardless of their sexual activity.
However, Croome urged Lifeblood to abandon its proposal as he said it would entrench a second-class donor status.
“Plasma-only donation is to blood equality what civil unions were to marriage equality, a poor substitute,” he said.
Ben Grubb is the founder and editor of Gay Sydney News, an independent publication covering LGBTQIA+ news. A journalist with more than 15 years' experience, he has reported and edited for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WAToday, Brisbane Times, The Australian Financial Review, News.com.au, ZDNet, TelecomTimes and iTnews, primarily on the topic of technology. He previously hosted The Informer, a queer current affairs program on Melbourne’s JOY 94.9 radio station, and contributes to LGBTQIA+ media including Stun Magazine. Ben has also appeared as a technology commentator on Channel Ten's The Project, ABC RN’s Download This Show and commercial radio stations 2UE, 2GB and 6PR. Contact Ben: ben.grubb@gaysydneynews.com.au
