Lauterbach wants to end discrimination against homosexual blood donors

Created: 01/11/2023 10:14 am

By: Johannes Nuß, Fabian Pieper

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) wants to end discrimination against homosexual blood donors.

© Carsten Koall/Christian Charisius/dpa/Montage

So far, homosexual men are only allowed to donate blood under certain restrictions.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) now wants to change that.

Bremen welcomes this.

Update from Tuesday, January 10, 2023, 3:25 p.m .:

Bremen’s Health Senator Claudia Bernhard (Die Linke) welcomes the plan before Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) to no longer discriminate against homosexuals when donating blood in the future.

"For health policy reasons alone, it is completely out of the question that men who have sex with men are still discriminated against when donating blood.

The step that these men can also donate blood in the future is long overdue and therefore absolutely right and to be welcomed," Bernhard told the regional

from Radio Bremen.

Lauterbach wants to end discrimination against homosexual blood donors - Bremen welcomes the project

The parliamentary group of the CDU in the person of their health policy spokesman Rainer Bensch also signals approval.

However, the Union wants to link its consent to the possibility of examining the blood of homosexual men before it is used in the laboratory.

At the same time, the change in the law is also a way of overcoming the shortage of blood supplies.

First report from Tuesday, January 10, 2023, 1:45 p.m.:

Berlin – blood supplies are scarce in Germany.

In the course of the corona pandemic in particular, there were bottlenecks with donor blood, as the willingness to donate had decreased - there are a number of advantages for donors.

But the demand is also increasing, so that there is currently a massive shortage again.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has now dared to make a move that could at least create a little more leeway in the procurement of donor blood.

Because homosexual men were previously almost excluded from blood donations.

Karl Lauterbach wants to end discrimination against homosexual men when donating blood

Until October 2017, homosexual men were not even allowed to donate blood.

Thereafter, it was potentially possible, but on the condition that they had not had sexual intercourse with a new or more than one male sexual partner for 12 months at the time of donation.

In October 2021, the German Medical Association updated the so-called haemotherapy guidelines, so that gays only had to be excluded from a donation if the last sexual contact with a new or more than one man was less than four months ago.

Apparently that's not enough for the health minister.

But he cites another reason as decisive for his advance.

Because Lauterbach sees discrimination in the unequal treatment of women and heterosexual men – they only have to take a four-month break if their sexual partners change frequently.

This emerges from an amendment to the transfusion law.

This is how the blood groups are distributed in Germany

• A positive: 37 percent

• 0 positive: 35 percent

• B positive: 9 percent

• A negative: 6 percent

• 0 negative: 6 percent

• AB positive: 4 percent

• B negative: 2 percent

• AB negative: 1 percent

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“Sexual orientation and gender identity must not be exclusion or deferral criteria”

"Sexual orientation and gender identity must not be exclusion or deferral criteria," quoted the

(RND) from the application submitted to it.

"Whether someone can become a blood donor is a question of risky behavior, not of sexual orientation," Lauterbach told RND.

There should be no hidden discrimination.

New blood donation guidelines for gays are expected to come into force later this year

The German Medical Association is now obliged to adapt its guidelines accordingly without discrimination.

There, only the individual behavior of a person, but not their group membership, should be the basis for excluding blood donation, according to the amendment.

The amendment to the law is scheduled to come into force on April 1, 2023.

The German Medical Association then has four months to adjust its blood donation guidelines accordingly.

Otherwise, this task automatically falls to the Paul Ehrlich Institute for Vaccines and Biomedical Drugs.

A similar directive has been in force in Austria since September 1, 2022. In the Netherlands, too, it has so far been easier for homosexual men to donate their blood under certain conditions.

And even animals can donate blood and become lifesavers.