Government to review 12-month deferral period for gay men donating blood - BBC Newsbeat Since 2011 gay men have been able to donate blood provided they have not have oral or anal sex with another man in the last 12 months. In other words a gay man has to be abstinant from penetrative sex for a year to give blood. This is now being reviewed. I welcome this as the current rules make little sense: 1. Whilst intended to catch HIV (a disease not immediately visible on tests), the window for visibility is much smaller than 12 months so such a long ban has little scientific basis. HIV tends to show up within 3-6months from transmission so surely a six month ban or 9 months being conservative would be just as effective and less prohibitive. 2. The big one: The current rules presume all gay men are promiscious and are never virgins. If a couple have been having sex for six months, a year, plus and clearly don't have HIV then it shouldn't matter if they have sex 10 minutes before donating! Likewise if you have two healthy gay virgins who have sex the week before it shouldn't matter. 3. I sympathise with restrictions on at risk groups (as patient safety is the priority), but if that was truly the mindset why are similar restrictions not in place for the other high-risk groups: black heterosexual women, students, promiscuous heterosexuals etc. The current rules: https://www.blood.co.uk/who-can-give-blood/men-who-have-sex-with-men/
