Finally it’s happening: gay man takes on Red Cross over blood donation

The long anticipated case has commenced in Tasmania, with 25 year old gay man Michael Cain challenging the Red Cross about its rule that gay men can’t give blood.

His challenge is that it is discriminatory by the Red Cross as it does not take into account whether a person engages in safe sex or not, so a straight person engaging in unsafe sex can give blood, but gay men who engage in safe sex cannot.

The case continues next week.

Further links:

ABC news
Rodney Croome gay activist
Gay blood donation

Overseas, the results are mixed:

Sweden has kept the ban, as has
Finland and the USA, but Russia has removed the ban.

The approach taken by the Tasmanian Red Cross is a one year ban, similar to that advocated by the US Red Cross.