Restrictions banning those within the LGBTQ+ community from giving blood will be dropped this year, after many years of campaigning.
© Welsh Government
The change is part of a four-nation approach, with England, Scotland and Northern Ireland also making the change.
Under the current system, set by the UK Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs, gay and bisexual men can only donate if they’ve abstained from sex for three months. Before 2017, the abstention period was set at twelve months. This, despite shortages of some blood types.
Announcing the news, Wales’ Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: “This announcement will put an end to the discrimination many people in the LGBT+ community have faced.
“With the great progress and certainty that our medical experts and systems have brought, we can now remove the barriers that have long been in place and that have meant that some LGBT+ people cannot easily donate blood.”
Mr Gething also paid tribute to the medical professionals, civil servants and those who have campaigned to make the change happen.
The Welsh Government has continued to make progress on LGBTQ+ issues over the past decade, including on same-sex marriage and by becoming the first UK nation to make the HIV preventive drug PrEP available on the NHS.
Last year, a petition put forward by Blood Equality Wales called on the Welsh Government to scrap the three-month abstention period before giving blood, instead opting for an “individualised risk-based assessment” to assess sexual behaviour.
Elsewhere, a UK-wide petition set up by the founder of FreedomToDonate, Ethan Spibey, received over 72,000 signatories. He was prompted to set up the petition after a relative lost eight pints of blood during a surgical procedure. Offering to give his own, he was told he couldn’t because of his sexuality.
Reacting to the news, he said: “Today has been so special and feels like a real moment for gay and bi men who for too long have been excluded on the basis of outdated assumptions.
“Much more to be done for our LGBTQ community on areas of health inequality but today is a good day.”
The Welsh Blood Service have confirmed they’ll amend the questions donors are required to answer before giving blood, making the process more inclusive.