Newsflash: bisexuals/pansexuals exist!

[kaberett]

Today the UK's lifetime ban on blood donation by men who've had sex with men (MSM) was lifted. This change is reflected in the online donor health check questionnaire: good.

Me, however: I've just got off the phone with the Blood Service on my own account, because what they haven't done is edit the donor health check to reflect the reality that some women have sex with MSM, and a situation where a woman can't donate blood because she's having sex with a man who can is clearly preposterous. (Yes, I am using binary language here. No, it doesn't make me happy. No, the blood service doesn't really believe in trans* people in any useful sense full stop, insofar as I've discussed the issue with them.)

Luckily they agree that the situation I describe above is clearly preposterous, and have explained that it's not actually what they mean. Whether or not they'll change the website remains to be seen, but in the meantime... I can donate blood again!

Comments

[naath]

So their position is...

*a man who has recently had sex with a man can't give blood
*a woman who has recently had sex with a man who can't give blood per ^^ can't give blood
*but after 12 months of not having sex with men said man can give blood again
*and said woman may also

Or does said woman have to wait an additional 12 months? I know that if she doesn't have sex with said man for 12 months she may. (I'm assuming the woman here has sex with no-one else only to make it easier to write down).

[kaberett]

Um, good question - I didn't double-check that, on account of it's less relevant to my situation. My *guess* would be that if a woman has sex with an ineligible man, she must wait 12 months after last sex with him-while-ineligible before becoming eligible again (incubation period arguments) - I'm not sure this actually makes sense at all from the point of view of transmission vectors, but apparently this kind of situation didn't come anywhere near occurring to them :-s