Since 1983, Canada and many other countries have implemented an indefinite deferral of blood donation by men who have had sex with men . This was implemented based on HIV/AIDS information at the time. The disease was known to be blood-borne and was more prevalent among homosexual men. To be on the safe side, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has denied the ability to donate blood to any man who has been sexually active with other men since 1977. This would eliminate the risk of receiving infected blood from a gay man because this date has preceded the start of the donation. of the epidemic. It was decided that in Canada women who had sex with a man who had sex with another man could donate blood one year after the sexual encounter. Why shouldn't this rule apply to males? I believe gay men everywhere should be allowed to donate blood after a certain period of abstinence or safe sex. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Creating an indefinite deferral seemed necessary in the early 1980s. The deadly disease had just been discovered, and the FDA feared that transmission through blood donation would be too common. Although discriminatory, the CDC and FDA supported their ideas with two clear advantages of indefinite deferral. These are: 1) no risk of accidental release of contaminated blood into the public and 2) prevention of transfusion of HIV-infected blood units (Wainberg, Shuldiner, Dahl, Gilmore 1323). The FDA says if someone completes the donor medical history questionnaire and is identified as "higher risk," they too will be deferred. There is a two-week deferral if you have recently received a vaccination, a 12-month deferral after getting a tattoo or piercing, but an indefinite deferral for being a sexually active gay man. Countries such as Argentina, Australia, Japan, Hungary and Sweden have used their discretion to reduce the deferrals to one year. A homosexual man must remain abstinent for a year to be able to donate blood. South Africa allows donation after six months of abstinence and New Zealand allows donation after 10 years. On May 22, 2013, CTV News informed the nation that “Canada is lifting a nearly 30-year ban on gay men donating blood.” The decision has been made to allow a gay man to donate blood if he has not had sexual intercourse with another man in the five years preceding the donation. Spokesman Mark Wainberg agrees this is “a step in the right direction.” The vice-president of medical, scientific and research affairs at Canadian Blood Services, Devine, says this will finally allow men who experienced as young men, or who were sexually assaulted or raped, the ability to donate. This type of deferral is much less discriminatory and therefore gay male Canadians should consider donating if the standards apply to them. This is the kind of deferral that I believe should be offered everywhere, if not less. As stated in the CTV News article, the benefits for men who have not had a sexual encounter with another man in the past five years are endless. This may apply to men who have experienced abuse, experimentation, or men who choose to remain abstinent. Although it is still banned in the United States, every day more and more news articles talk about the problems American gay men have with deferral..