Canadian Blood Services apologizes to LGBTQ2S+ community for discriminatory blood donation policy

Canada's longstanding blood donation policy that prohibited sexually active men who have sex with men, as well as some trans people, from donating blood and plasma was harmful and discriminatory, Canadian Blood Services acknowledged on Friday, in issuing an apology to the LGBTQ2S+ community.

"The policy was put in place with the intent to protect patient safety after the Canadian blood system crisis of the 1980s. We regret that for many years the former policy also contributed to discrimination, homophobia, transphobia, and HIV stigma within society," Canadian Blood Services CEO Dr. Graham Sher said.

Speaking to a room of community members and allies in Ottawa, Sher acknowledged that while the regret expressed does not erase the harm done, the apology was a long time coming and necessary for the organization to be able to continue to build trust with LGBTQ2S+ communities.

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"Canadian Blood Services apologizes to gay, bi and queer men, trans people, and queer people more broadly, for the impact of the former deferral policy. We acknowledge how this policy reinforced the harmful public perception that someone's blood is somehow less safe because of their sexual orientation. Canadian Blood Services also apologizes to our employees past and present, who over the years may have had to explain or defend the policy," Sher said.

LGBTQ2S+ representatives were then given the opportunity to take the stage and share their experiences with how the policy impacted them, expressing gratitude for the historic recognition of what queer and trans activists knew for decades – that the ban perpetuated negative stereotypes.

Mike Maloney, a nearly 30-year employee of Canadian Blood Services, and a co-chair of the organizations' LGBTQ2S+ advisory committee, said after living and working through the blood ban, the day the rules changed he felt as if he could "breath a sigh of relief."

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"I no longer had to worry about explaining or defending our policies to my friends, my family, and members of my community. Today marks another important milestone in Canadian history, and a day that I thought would never be conceivable," Maloney said.

"I'm proud to have been involved in the development of this apology… I am thankful to have the apology for myself as well… it's a place to start the healing process."

The apology – delivered 19 months after the policy was updated – was made in front of around one hundred individuals in-person, and what the blood donation agency estimates were hundreds more watching online.

Asked why it took this long to say sorry, Sher said Canadian Blood Services wanted to base the apology on feedback from members of the LGBTQ2S+ community, patient groups and staff.

Backstory on the ban 

In 2022, Canadian Blood Services eliminated the three-month donor deferral period for gay and bisexual men, as well as some others in the LGBTQ2S+ community, following Health Canada approval and years of pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make good on his 2015 election pledge to eradicate what he considered a "wrong" policy that ignored "scientific evidence." 

Moving away from what started as a lifetime blanket ban and then incrementally shortened over the last two decades, the national blood donor organization – which bills itself as "Canada's lifeline" – now screens all blood and plasma donors based on higher risk sexual behaviours, regardless of gender or sexuality.

• Read more about the history of Canada's blood donation policy

This policy change was a hard and long-fought effort, backed by research, and led by LGBTQ2S+ Canadians.

Though, with this screening process still disqualifying certain donors on the basis of sexual activity and sexual orientation – specifically if they have recently engaged in anal sex in the context of new or multiple sexual partners within the last few months, or are taking PrEP – advocates have cautioned that the new approach can still indirectly discriminate in an unscientific manner.

Noting this, Sher thanked those continuing to push for improvements to maximize donor inclusion, and vowed Friday to continue to engage and act on feedback from medical experts and the LGBTQ2S+ community to make both the donation process and the experience at donation centres more welcoming.

"Our decisions around donor screening and our policies have always been and will always be based on science. But, science evolves," Sher said.

When asked whether the organization would commit to a timeline on making a further submission to Health Canada, as the regulator, on measures to address the outstanding barriers, Sher couldn't say.

"You will see ongoing changes in policy over time, whether it's those that currently prevent trans donors from participating, or individuals on PrEP from participating, or people who may have travelled or been born in certain parts of the world that currently defer them for Malaria. So, it's a body of work that's continuing." 

Updates to other donor rules 

This week, mirroring the new approach for blood donation screening, Health Canada replaced sperm and ova donor restrictions targeting sexually active gay and bisexual men, as well as their partners, with a new gender-neutral, behaviour-based screening questionnaire.

• 'A step forward': New screening criteria for sperm donors takes effect

In marking the sperm donation rule change, Health Canada signalled that further reforms may be coming to this country's continued restrictions on cell, tissue and organ donation.

The federal health agency said it is working with the Canadian Standards Association "to discuss potential changes" to the screening criteria for gay and bisexual donors. This criteria is currently being reviewed by experts in the field, according to the government.

"I hope governments and blood regulators around the world are taking note and follow this lead. But, just because Canada is out in front with this apology doesn't mean that we've crossed the finish line," said Michael Kwag, executive director of the Community-Based Research Centre, Canada's largest queer health organization.

"Because it is still more difficult than it should be for queer and trans people to donate blood as well as organ tissue and other biological materials. And that's very frustrating."

Sher said with the movement on other forms of donations, Canadian Blood Services sees its role as a convener and promoter of change and intends to support any further regulatory reform.

"We don't believe any donor of any biological material should be deferred on the basis of sexuality or gender, and it really needs to be based on appropriate risk factors," he said.

Questions over the blood, sperm, and tissue policies, and whether the federal government has discriminated against LGBTQ2S+ donors by upholding them, continue to play out in the courts and at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.