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(Stockholm) Sweden's Prime Minister has become the world's first leader to publicly call for an end to the ban on gays from donating blood.

Men who have sex with men are banned from giving blood or donating organs in most countries, including Sweden, the United States and Canada.

The bans date back to the early days of HIV/AIDS when gay men made up the majority of AIDS cases. Since that time the incidence rate among heterosexuals - primarily blacks and women - has increased substantially and gays believe the ban to be discriminatory.

Prime Minister Goeran Persson said gay men should be allowed to give blood or donate organs.

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I looked at the CBS website to check if they'd improved any of the screening ... nope!

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Male donors: have you had sex with a man, even one time, since 1977?

Female donors: in the last 12 months, have you had sex with a man, who had sex, even one time, since 1977?

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Um, well, define sex? (Okay, that might be another thread). And what's the difference between 1977 versus 12 months? And what if I'm a woman who had anal sex with a man who 3 years ago had a transfusion in the UK? Or I'm a lesbian who lives with someone who has Hep C? Or, or, or ...

Also highly problematic is the question about if have you lived in/had sex with someone from Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Niger or Nigeria. Did they go through an atlas and pick mostly African countries that start with "C"? I guess they don't have transmissable diseases in the rest of the world?

And then there's the UK mad cow questions. What if you're a vegetarian? Beware of those lurking veggie burger prions! Is a steak-eater from Alberta any safer than a vegetarian from Wales? Inquiring minds want to know.

Oh yeah, and have you been in jail or prison in the last 12 months?

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Originally posted by Hephaestion:

Men who have sex with men are banned from giving blood or donating organs in most countries, including Sweden, the United States and Canada.

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Edited to add: These standards should also apply to organ donation as well.

[ 25 July 2005: Message edited by: Aristotleded24 ]

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Um, well, define sex?

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If you actually go to donate blood, and read everything that you're supposed to, they define sex as any oral/vaginal/anal sex. But I do agree that the ban is discriminatory. Although many of their very strict guidlines don't rule out only homosexuals, there are many that rule out many straight friends of mine.

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Originally posted by Yst:

Umm...oh. I was of course well-aware of the blood-giving prohibition, but oddly enough, the possibility of prohibition against organ donation had never occurred to me. Should I, as an MSM in Ontario, throw away my organ donor card?

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Originally posted by Doug:

Nah, just don't keep the bathhouse business cards next to it in your wallet.

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Originally posted by Raos:
What does MSM stand for? I've been trying to figure it out, and I just can't figure it out.

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