The FDP has asked Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) to campaign for the extensive ban on blood donation for homo- and bisexual men and trans people in view of the corona pandemic. "Above all, those who are now urgently dependent on donor blood suffer from the blood donation ban," wrote the FDP Bundestag members Jens Brandenburg and Kathrin Helling-Plahr in a letter ( PDF ) published on Saturday to the minister. The two liberals wrote a similar letter to the German Medical Association.
Until 2017, there was a blanket ban on blood donation for gay and bisexual men and for trans people in Germany, which was justified by the increased risk of HIV. The German Medical Association finally relaxed the ban - however, only people who have not had sex for a year are allowed to donate in this group. This includes even men who live monogamous with their own husband.
"Sexual identity is not decisive for an infection risk"
"The alien prerequisite of twelve months of abstinence goes far beyond medical necessities," criticize Helling-Plahr and Brandenburg in their letter to Spahn. "Crucial for an infection risk is not the sexual identity of a person, but the actual risk behavior, for example through unprotected sexual intercourse with frequently changing partners."
The separate listing of trans people "has no medical justification," said the two FDP deputies. "The blood donation ban affects especially those who are now urgently dependent on donor blood". In the fight against the corona pandemic, "the donation of blood and blood components can be significant," they wrote in the letter to Spahn. "Ensuring the supply of vital blood preparations is becoming an ever greater challenge."
The deputies urged Spahn to immediately work with the German Medical Association "that the medical assessment for the safe collection of blood and blood components is no longer made dependent on sexual identity". They pointed out that the USA had already loosened its blood donation ban for homosexual men on April 2 with immediate effect ( queer.de reported ). The urgent appeal by Helling-Plahr and Brandenburg: "No corona patient should die because the blanket ban on blood donation was lifted too late." Read more via Queer.de