3 Out Of 4 Bisexual And Gay Men Would Be Blood Donors If They Were Allowed

Last year the National Blood Service received 2.1 million donations of blood from 1.6 million donors. On first glance this may look  impressive, however the reality is it only reflects 4% of the population donating a couple of times a yea, and with the NHS requiring 7000 units of blood each day (something which equates to 2.5 million donations a year)  there is a deficit of 400,000 units of blood exists every single year.

And the sad thing is  that there is one group that would happily break down that number, but aren’t allowed to. Gay and bisexual men. Denied the right to give blood because they have had sex with another man, the reasoning behind the ban, according to the National Blood Service, is that there is a risk of transmitting viruses such as HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis during the 3 month ‘window period’ when tests can’t detect these viruses in the blood.

It’s hard to deny it doesn’t make sense. If there are viruses that can’t be identified that could infect then maybe it’s not a good idea to give blood. However what is often ignored is that these viruses aren’t gay men only viruses and the same 3 month window exists with people of any gender or sexuality. It is therefore not the viruses that are the issues but the perceived level of risk – something the National Blood Service believes is too high with gay men

Research by Man Central, the free gay dating website has however shown that a blanket ban isn’t potentially the best way forward as it is not only removing many willing volunteers from donating blood – they found that 3 out of 4 bisexual and gay men would give blood if they could – but it is also dismissing the fact that most gay and bisexual men are intelligent enough to know whether they should be giving blood  – the research found those only sometimes practising safe sex, or alternatively looking for sex online, were the least likely to agree to donate blood.

Also highlighting that 78% of men who always practised safe sex, and therefore should be virus free, would give blood if they could, this highlights there is a group very willing to break down the deficit if only the NBS would trust them to.

The research by ManCentral.com saw 3,667 members polled over a three day period with the questions answered anonymously to ensure an honest and accurate response.

Photo by cesarastudillo