Sweden's Change in Blood Donation Rules for LGBTQ+ Men Draws Mixed Responses

In response to public outcry, the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare has lowered the requirement for LGBTQ+ men to be celibate in order to donate blood from 12 months to 6 months. Many in the LGBTQ+ community are still not happy with the new rule change, seeing the restriction as discriminatory.

​The Board’s website explains that the requirement only applies to LGBTQ+ men because of the heightened risk they found in diseases, such as HIV, from a study in 2016-2020, but it does not apply to LGBTQ+ women because they were found to be the least likely to be at risk for infections.

The argument for abolishing the requirement is that all donated blood is tested, regardless of the individual’s sexuality. Therefore, the requirement seems like a holdover from the AIDS epidemic, when homosexual men were seen as the main carriers of the disease, at a time when hospitals are greatly in need of blood due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sonja Ranta, an LGBTQ+ activist, said: “I think compared to how few sexually active gay men indeed carry blood-borne diseases with how many people need blood, these restrictions, which exclude an entire demographic, may eventually only be hurting those in need of blood.”

According to Linda Savolainen, the programme officer for the Department for Knowledge-Based Policy, the requirement was based on statistics they received from the Public Health Agency. The agency found that men who have sex with men are 40 times more likely to be infected by diseases, such as HIV, compared to heterosexual people. Savolainen explained that the deferral period was introduced for LGBTQ+ men to be celibate after their last sexual contact in order to be eligible to donate blood so as to keep patients who receive donated blood safe.

Savolainen explained that the deferral period is there because that is the period during which the HIV infection can be seen through tests. She explained that the deferral period is not meant to discriminate against LGBTQ+ men and that they have similar restrictions for people who have recently had tattoos or an operation. It applies to any kind of potential risk that can transmit infections through blood.

​These restrictions may be further loosened. According to Savolainen: “We are discussing of doing a study with the Public Health Agency that looks at LGBTQ+ men in monogamous relationships because even though they belong to a risk group they are not individually at risk and we hope that with this study we can let more LGBTQ+ men donate blood. But due to the pandemic, we have not been able to focus on starting the study.”