World-first move for gay blood donors
Ever since the AIDS crisis exploded into the public consciousness in the early 1980s, the Australian Red Cross has prevented gay and bisexual men, transgender people, sex workers and people taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP) from donating blood.
Decades later, the Red Cross Lifeblood Service reports 'some 625,000 Australians' will become eligible to donate plasma after the lifting of these rules. Australia will become the first country to remove sexual activity wait times for plasma donation and allow those on PREP to donate. NewsWire / John Appleyard Credit: News Corp Australia
Lifeblood chief executive Stephen Cornelissen AM said the service was 'looking forward' to welcoming new donors into the fold.
'Importantly, today's (Monday's) change will allow those on PREP to become the first in the world to donate plasma without a wait period,' he said.
'Over the next 12 months, we estimate an extra 24,000 donors will give plasma, but we know people have been eagerly awaiting these changes and hope to far exceed these numbers.'
Professor Cornelissen also took time to acknowledge the stigma that has accompanied blood donor ineligibility.
'While the rules were put in place to ensure a safe blood supply in the past, we know they have contributed to the stigma faced by many and hope today will be a turning point for Lifeblood and the LGBTQIA+ community and that people will feel welcome to come forward to donate their lifesaving plasma,' he said. Lifeblood chief executive Stephen Cornelissen estimates that an extra 24,000 people will donate plasma in the next year. NewsWire / John Appleyard Credit: News Corp Australia
Throughout the '80s and '90s, AIDS became highly stigmatised, and high-profile media campaigns such as the infamous 'Grim Reaper' AIDS campaign had detrimental impacts on the already marginalised LGBTQIA+ community – a residual trauma that many still vividly recall.
On Monday, several gay men donated their plasma at the Lifeblood clinic in Sydney – some for the first time and others for the first time since they became ineligible in their youth.
For Kane Wheatley, 44, a schoolteacher from Sydney's inner west, donating plasma always seemed just out of reach.
'I spent my whole life thinking that I couldn't get married – and then I was able to get married … and so donating blood or plasma … I thought it was never going to be an option – we were just never going to get there,' Mr Wheatley said. Schoolteacher Kane Wheatley said donating blood was a 'privilege'. NewsWire / John Appleyard Credit: News Corp Australia
'Today it just feels really great to be able to get across the line. To be one of the first people to do this and help normalise it and show people that we can do this … it's really flattering.
'I feel really honoured and really special to be able to do it.'
Matt Higgs, 31, said he was a regular donor in his youth, but his sexuality eventually rendered him 'ineligible' – an experience that he called 'pretty common'.
'My partner is the same, he has a scar on his arm because he used to donate so regularly,' Mr Higgs said. Mat Higgs donated blood in his youth but stopped for a long time due to the perceived risks his sexuality posed. NewsWire / John Appleyard Credit: News Corp Australia
'I was healthy, but because I was in a relationship with a man, I couldn't donate.'
Mr Higgs acknowledged the history of his ineligibility but said change was well overdue.
'(Preventing gay men from donating blood) was a response that was maybe warranted at the time, but we've moved so far beyond the time of where that decision was made and so it's huge (for destigmatisation) for sure,' he said.
'It's a great feeling to be able to come back and give back … I know plenty of people that have needed blood products in their life and to be able to contribute to that is really cool.'
Plasma is an essential component of more than a dozen medical treatments for illnesses like chickenpox, brain disorders, tetanus, measles, liver disease and haemophilia.
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