Germany to Lift Restrictions on Gay Blood Donors

Germany is set to amend the guidelines for donating blood to ensure the same rules apply to all donors regardless of their sexual orientation.

The country's health minister Karl Lauterbach said official guidelines will be adapted so that potential donors are no longer assessed differently based on their sexuality.

"Whether someone can become a blood donor is a question of behavioral risk, not sexual orientation," Lauterbach told RND broadcaster on Tuesday.

"There must also be no hidden discrimination on this issue," he added.

Under the existing guidelines, men who have sex with other men are only allowed to donate blood if they have not had "a new or more than one sexual partner" in the past four months.

The rules by the German Medical Association (BAK) date back to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s when gay men were thought to carry a higher risk of transmitting the virus.

But under the new rules, potential donors will be assessed only on the basis of the “individual behavior of the person willing to donate".

RND reports that an amendment to the law will come into force on April 1st, after which the BAK will come up with new guidelines in four months.

The German Lesbian and Gay Association (LSVD) welcomed the changes, calling them long overdue.