Blood donation for men who have sex with men?

[Cameron58]

For men who have sex with men, it it possible to donate blood? I did some googling and came across results that it's allowed after 12 months has passed since the last sexual encounter. Is this correct or is there an absolute ban?

 

[Vince]

I believe it's 12 months.

LGBTQ Donors

 

[Vince Carter]

I see that question in the screening but I don't know the implications of checking yes to whatever that specific question is but I'd be confident in saying you'll get disqualified. And I'd be that that's recorded, too, and you end up on the black list. But that's just an opinion.
Too I would be ARC and other blood banks may have different standards on that specifically.

 

[finkelet]

I work in organ and tissue transplant and am very familiar with this.

It’s 12mo and only applies to men with men or women that have sex with men who had sex with men.

M2M anal sex is still the riskiest in terms of virus transmission and there is a window of around 7 days in which blood may have a viral load that is undetectable but still present. The research is evaluated at least every 5 years on exclusion criteria. I hated telling the loved ones gay male patients that they were “high risk” even if in a committed relationship.

As a PSA they can still absolutely be organ donors.

 

[Dwarga]

I've always been under the impression that gay men cannot donate blood. Since my hemoglobin levels are relatively high, I've been encouraged to get a "therapeutic blood draw", in which they will destroy the blood.