Conservative MP pushing Liberals to keep 2015 blood ban promise
A Conservative MP is reigniting his call for the Liberal government to end a ban on gay men donating blood, after the governing party committed to doing so in 2015.
Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry MP Eric Duncan wants to see the ban that is currently in place be lifted for men who have sex with other men. He also wants the criteria for eligibility to refocus on sexual behaviour, not preference.
“It shouldn't matter whether you're gay or not — it should be based sexual behaviour… are you using protection, the number of partners you've had,” Duncan told CityNews Ottawa.
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He feels that basing eligibility on sexual orientation perpetuates a stigma or discrimination toward men who have sex with other men in the LGTBQ2S+ community.
Canada banned blood donations from gay men in 1992 before allowing it in 2013 if the donor abstained from sex with another man for at least five years. That rule was changed to one year without sex in 2016, and then three months of abstinence in 2019, but the Liberals promised to end the ban completely in both 2015 and 2019.
Duncan adds the ban was put in place amid the HIV/AIDS crisis but says that situation, along with advancements in medical science and technology, has drastically improved since.
-With files from the Canadian Press
